Tracking power consumption and payment

ABSTRACT

Methods, devices, and systems are provided that track details of power transfers made between power sources and electric vehicles. The power tracking system monitors the source of charges received, how much charge was provided, rates billed for the charging service and other information related to a charging transaction. The tracked power consumption may be used by the power tracking system server to anticipate future charging times, preferences, or locations, and even determine driving habits, and demand for charging in a region or area.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims the benefits of and priority, under 35U.S.C. §119(e), to U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 62/255,214,filed on Nov. 13, 2015, entitled “Electric Vehicle Systems andOperation”; 62/259,536, filed Nov. 24, 2015, entitled “ChargingTransmission Line Under Roadway for Moving Electric Vehicle”;62/266,452, filed Dec. 11, 2015, entitled “Charging Transmission LineUnder Roadway for Moving Electric Vehicle”; 62/269,764, filed Dec. 18,2015, entitled “Conditional Progressive Degradation of Electric VehiclePower Supply System”; 62/300,606, filed Feb. 26, 2016, entitled“Charging Transmission Line Under Roadway for Moving Electric Vehicle”;62/310,387, filed Mar. 18, 2016, entitled “Distributed ProcessingNetwork for Rechargeable Electric Vehicle Tracking and Routing”;62/359,563, filed Jul. 7, 2016, entitled “Next Generation Vehicle”; and62/378,348, filed Aug. 23, 2016, entitled “Next Generation Vehicle.” Theentire disclosures of the applications listed above are herebyincorporated by reference, in their entirety, for all that they teachand for all purposes.

This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/954,436 filed Nov. 30, 2015, entitled “Electric Vehicle RoadwayCharging System and Method of Use” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-2); Ser.No. 14/954,484 filed Nov. 30, 2015, entitled “Electric Vehicle ChargingDevice Positioning and Method of Use” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-3); Ser.No. 14/979,158 filed Dec. 22, 2015, entitled “Electric Vehicle ChargingDevice Alignment and Method of Use” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-4); Ser.No. 14/981,368 filed Dec. 28, 2015, entitled “Electric Vehicle ChargingDevice Obstacle Avoidance and Warning System and Method of Use”(Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-5); Ser. No. 15/010,701 filed Jan. 29, 2016,entitled “Electric Vehicle Emergency Charging System and Method of Use”(Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-7); Ser. No. 15/010,921 filed Jan. 29, 2016,entitled “Electric Vehicle Aerial Vehicle Charging System and Method ofUse” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-8); Ser. No. 15/044,940 filed Feb. 16,2016, entitled “Electric Vehicle Overhead Charging System and Method ofUse” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-11); Ser. No. 15/048,307 filed Feb. 19,2016, entitled “Electric Vehicle Charging Station System and Method ofUse” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-10); Ser. No. 15/055,345 filed Feb. 26,2016, entitled “Charging Transmission Line Under Roadway For MovingElectric Vehicle” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-12); Ser. No. 15/074,593filed Mar. 18, 2016, entitled “Multi-Mode Rechargeable Electric Vehicle”(Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-13); Ser. No. 15/074,624 filed Mar. 18, 2016,entitled “Distributed Processing Network for Rechargeable ElectricVehicle Tracking and Routing” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-14); Ser. No.15/143,083 filed Apr. 29, 2016, entitled “Vehicle To Vehicle ChargingSystem and Method of Use” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-16); Ser. No.15/145,416 filed May 3, 2016, entitled “Electric Vehicle OpticalCharging System and Method of Use” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-15); Ser.No. 15/169,073 filed May 31, 2016, entitled “Vehicle Charge ExchangeSystem and Method of Use” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-17); Ser. No.15/170,406 filed Jun. 1, 2016, entitled “Vehicle Group Charging Systemand Method of Use” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-18); Ser. No. 15/196,898filed Jun. 29, 2016, entitled “Predictive Charging System and Method ofUse” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-19); Ser. No. 15/198,034 filed Jun. 30,2016, entitled “Integrated Vehicle Charging Panel System and Method ofUse” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-20); Ser. No. 15/223,814 filed Jul. 29,2016, entitled “Vehicle Skin Charging System and Method” (Attorney'sRef. No. 8322-22); Ser. No. 15/226,446 filed Aug. 2, 2016, entitled“Vehicle Capacitive Charging System and Method of Use” (Attorney's Ref.No. 8322-23); Ser. No. 15/237,937 filed Aug. 16, 2016, entitled “SmartGrid Management” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-28); Ser. No. 15/246,867filed Aug. 25, 2016, entitled “Electric Contact Device for ElectricVehicles and Method of Use” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-25); and Ser. No.15/254,915 filed Sep. 1, 2016, entitled “Multi-Vehicle Communicationsand Control System” (Attorney's Ref. No. 8322-27). The entiredisclosures of the applications listed above are hereby incorporated byreference, in their entirety, for all that they teach and for allpurposes.

FIELD

The present disclosure is generally directed to vehicle systems, inparticular, toward electric and/or hybrid-electric vehicles.

BACKGROUND

In recent years, transportation methods have changed substantially. Thischange is due in part to a concern over the limited availability ofnatural resources, a proliferation in personal technology, and asocietal shift to adopt more environmentally friendly transportationsolutions. These considerations have encouraged the development of anumber of new flexible-fuel vehicles, hybrid-electric vehicles, andelectric vehicles.

While these vehicles appear to be new they are generally implemented asa number of traditional subsystems that are merely tied to analternative power source. In fact, the design and construction of thevehicles is limited to standard frame sizes, shapes, materials, andtransportation concepts. Among other things, these limitations fail totake advantage of the benefits of new technology, power sources, andsupport infrastructure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a vehicle in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 2 shows a vehicle in an environment in accordance with embodimentsof the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an embodiment of a data structure for storinginformation about a vehicle in an environment;

FIG. 4A shows a vehicle in a user environment in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4B shows a vehicle in a fleet management and automated operationenvironment in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4C shows an embodiment of the instrument panel of the vehicleaccording to one embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows charging areas associated with an environment in accordancewith embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 shows a vehicle in a roadway charging environment in accordancewith embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 shows a vehicle in a robotic charging station environment inaccordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 shows a vehicle in an overhead charging environment in accordancewith another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 shows a vehicle in a roadway environment comprising roadwayvehicles in accordance with another embodiment of the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 10 shows a vehicle in an aerial vehicle charging environment inaccordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 shows a vehicle in an emergency charging environment inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a perspective view of a vehicle in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a plan view of a vehicle in accordance with at least someembodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 is a plan view of a vehicle in accordance with embodiments ofthe present disclosure;

FIG. 15 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an electrical system ofthe vehicle;

FIG. 16 is a block diagram of an embodiment of a power generation unitassociated with the electrical system of the vehicle;

FIG. 17 is a block diagram of an embodiment of power storage associatedwith the electrical system of the vehicle;

FIG. 18 is a block diagram of an embodiment of loads associated with theelectrical system of the vehicle;

FIG. 19A is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of acommunications subsystem of the vehicle;

FIG. 19B is a block diagram of a computing environment associated withthe embodiments presented herein;

FIG. 19C is a block diagram of a computing device associated with one ormore components described herein;

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a power transfer and tracking system inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 21A is a block diagram of a first power transfer and communicationexchange in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 21B is a block diagram of a second power transfer and communicationexchange in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 21C is a block diagram of a third transfer and communicationexchange in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 22 is a diagram of an embodiment of a data structure for storinginformation about a power transfer and tracking exchange in accordancewith embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 23 is a flow chart depicting a method of tracking power transferand payment in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 24 is a diagram depicting a set of communication flows inaccordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 25 is a diagram of a charging communications packet in accordancewith embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 26 is a flow chart depicting a method of providing charge based ona charging communication received at a charging system in accordancewith embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 27 is a flow chart depicting a method of authorizing a charge for aparticular time in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in connectionwith a vehicle, and in accordance with one exemplary embodiment anelectric vehicle and/or hybrid-electric vehicle and associated systems.

With attention to FIGS. 1-11, embodiments of the electric vehicle system10 and method of use are depicted.

Referring to FIG. 1, the electric vehicle system comprises electricvehicle 100. The electric vehicle 100 comprises vehicle front 110,vehicle aft 120, vehicle roof 130, vehicle side 160, vehicleundercarriage 140 and vehicle interior 150.

Referring to FIG. 2, the vehicle 100 is depicted in a plurality ofexemplary environments. The vehicle 100 may operate in any one or moreof the depicted environments in any combination. Other embodiments arepossible but are not depicted in FIG. 2. Generally, the vehicle 100 mayoperate in environments which enable charging of the vehicle 100 and/oroperation of the vehicle 100. More specifically, the vehicle 100 mayreceive a charge via one or more means comprising emergency chargingvehicle system 270, aerial vehicle charging system 280, roadway system250, robotic charging system 254 and overhead charging system 258. Thevehicle 100 may interact and/or operate in an environment comprising oneor more other roadway vehicles 260. The vehicle 100 may engage withelements within the vehicle 100 comprising vehicle driver 220, vehiclepassengers 220 and vehicle database 210. In one embodiment, vehicledatabase 210 does not physically reside in the vehicle 100 but isinstead accessed remotely, e.g. by wireless communication, and residesin another location such as a residence or business location. Vehicle100 may operate autonomously and/or semi-autonomously in an autonomousenvironment 290 (here, depicted as a roadway environment presenting aroadway obstacle of which the vehicle 100 autonomously identifies andsteers the vehicle 100 clear of the obstacle). Furthermore, the vehicle100 may engage with a remote operator system 240, which may providefleet management instructions or control.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an embodiment of a data structure 300 for storinginformation about a vehicle 100 in an environment. The data structuremay be stored in vehicle database 210. Generally, data structure 300identifies operational data associated with charging types 310A. Thedata structures 300 may be accessible by a vehicle controller. The datacontained in data structure 300 enables, among other things, for thevehicle 100 to receive a charge from a given charging type.

Data may comprise charging type 310A comprising a manual chargingstation 310J, robotic charging station 310K such as robotic chargingsystem 254, a roadway charging system 310L such as those of roadwaysystem 250, an emergency charging system 310M such as that of emergencycharging vehicle system 270, an emergency charging system 310N such asthat of aerial vehicle charging system 280, and overhead charging type3100 such as that of overhead charging system 258.

Compatible vehicle charging panel types 310B comprise locations onvehicle 100 wherein charging may be received, such as vehicle roof 130,vehicle side 160 and vehicle lower or undercarriage 140. Compatiblevehicle storage units 310C data indicates storage units types that mayreceive power from a given charging type 310A. Available automationlevel 310D data indicates the degree of automation available for a givencharging type; a high level may indicate full automation, allowing thevehicle driver 220 and/or vehicle passengers 230 to not involvethemselves in charging operations, while a low level of automation mayrequire the driver 220 and/or occupant 230 to manipulate/position avehicle charging device to engage with a particular charging type 310Ato receive charging. Charging status 310E indicates whether a chargingtype 310A is available for charging (i.e. is “up”) or is unavailable forcharging (i.e. is “down”). Charge rate 310F provides a relative valuefor time to charge, while Cost 310G indicates the cost to vehicle 100 toreceive a given charge. The Other data element 310H may provideadditional data relevant to a given charging type 310A, such as arecommended separation distance between a vehicle charging plate and thecharging source. The Shielding data element 310I indicates ifelectromagnetic shielding is recommended for a given charging type 310Aand/or charging configuration. Further data fields 310P, 310Q arepossible.

FIG. 4A depicts the vehicle 100 in a user environment comprising vehicledatabase 210, vehicle driver 220 and vehicle passengers 230. Vehicle 100further comprises vehicle instrument panel 400 to facilitate or enableinteractions with one or more of vehicle database 210, vehicle driver220 and vehicle passengers 230. In one embodiment, driver 210 interactswith instrument panel 400 to query database 210 so as to locateavailable charging options and to consider or weigh associated terms andconditions of the charging options. Once a charging option is selected,driver 210 may engage or operate a manual control device (e.g., ajoystick) to position a vehicle charging receiver panel so as to receivea charge.

FIG. 4B depicts the vehicle 100 in a user environment comprising aremote operator system 240 and an autonomous driving environment 290. Inthe remote operator system 240 environment, a fleet of electric vehicles100 (or mixture of electric and non-electric vehicles) is managed and/orcontrolled remotely. For example, a human operator may dictate that onlycertain types of charging types are to be used, or only those chargingtypes below a certain price point are to be used. The remote operatorsystem 240 may comprise a database comprising operational data, such asfleet-wide operational data. In another example, the vehicle 100 mayoperate in an autonomous driving environment 290 wherein the vehicle 100is operated with some degree of autonomy, ranging from completeautonomous operation to semi-automation wherein only specific drivingparameters (e.g., speed control or obstacle avoidance) are maintained orcontrolled autonomously. In FIG. 4B, autonomous driving environment 290depicts an oil slick roadway hazard that triggers that triggers thevehicle 100, while in an automated obstacle avoidance mode, toautomatically steer around the roadway hazard.

FIG. 4C shows one embodiment of the vehicle instrument panel 400 ofvehicle 100. Instrument panel 400 of vehicle 100 comprises steeringwheel 410, vehicle operational display 420 (which would provide basicdriving data such as speed), one or more auxiliary displays 424 (whichmay display, e.g., entertainment applications such as music or radioselections), heads-up display 434 (which may provide, e.g., guidanceinformation such as route to destination, or obstacle warninginformation to warn of a potential collision, or some or all primaryvehicle operational data such as speed), power management display 428(which may provide, e.g., data as to electric power levels of vehicle100), and charging manual controller 432 (which provides a physicalinput, e.g. a joystick, to manual maneuver, e.g., a vehicle chargingplate to a desired separation distance). One or more of displays ofinstrument panel 400 may be touch-screen displays. One or more displaysof instrument panel 400 may be mobile devices and/or applicationsresiding on a mobile device such as a smart phone.

FIG. 5 depicts a charging environment of a roadway charging system 250.The charging area may be in the roadway 504, on the roadway 504, orotherwise adjacent to the roadway 504, and/or combinations thereof. Thisstatic charging area 520B may allow a charge to be transferred evenwhile the electrical vehicle 100 is moving. For example, the staticcharging area 520B may include a charging transmitter (e.g., conductor,etc.) that provides a transfer of energy when in a suitable range of areceiving unit (e.g., an inductor pick up, etc.). In this example, thereceiving unit may be a part of the charging panel associated with theelectrical vehicle 100.

The static charging areas 520A, 520B may be positioned a static areasuch as a designated spot, pad, parking space 540A, 540B, trafficcontrolled space (e.g., an area adjacent to a stop sign, traffic light,gate, etc.), portion of a building, portion of a structure, etc., and/orcombinations thereof. Some static charging areas may require that theelectric vehicle 100 is stationary before a charge, or electrical energytransfer, is initiated. The charging of vehicle 100 may occur by any ofseveral means comprising a plug or other protruding feature. The powersource 516A, 516B may include a receptacle or other receiving feature,and/or vice versa.

The charging area may be a moving charging area 520C. Moving chargingareas 520C may include charging areas associated with one or moreportions of a vehicle, a robotic charging device, a tracked chargingdevice, a rail charging device, etc., and/or combinations thereof. In amoving charging area 520C, the electrical vehicle 100 may be configuredto receive a charge, via a charging panel, while the vehicle 100 ismoving and/or while the vehicle 100 is stationary. In some embodiments,the electrical vehicle 100 may synchronize to move at the same speed,acceleration, and/or path as the moving charging area 520C. In oneembodiment, the moving charging area 520C may synchronize to move at thesame speed, acceleration, and/or path as the electrical vehicle 100. Inany event, the synchronization may be based on an exchange ofinformation communicated across a communications channel between theelectric vehicle 100 and the charging area 520C. Additionally oralternatively, the synchronization may be based on informationassociated with a movement of the electric vehicle 100 and/or the movingcharging area 520C. In some embodiments, the moving charging area 520Cmay be configured to move along a direction or path 532 from an originposition to a destination position 520C′.

In some embodiments, a transformer may be included to convert a powersetting associated with a main power supply to a power supply used bythe charging areas 520A-C. For example, the transformer may increase ordecrease a voltage associated with power supplied via one or more powertransmission lines.

Referring to FIG. 6, a vehicle 100 is shown in a charging environment inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The system 10comprises a vehicle 100, an electrical storage unit 612, an externalpower source 516 able to provide a charge to the vehicle 100, a chargingpanel 608 mounted on the vehicle 100 and in electrical communicationwith the electrical storage unit 612, and a vehicle charging panelcontroller 610. The charging panel controller 610 may determine if theelectrical storage unit requires charging and if conditions allow fordeployment of a charging panel. The vehicle charging panel 608 mayoperate in at least a retracted state and a deployed state (608 and 608′as shown is FIG. 6), and is movable by way of an armature.

The charging panel controller 610 may receive signals from vehiclesensors 626 to determine, for example, if a hazard is present in thepath of the vehicle 100 such that deployment of the vehicle chargingpanel 608 is inadvisable. The charging panel controller 610 may alsoquery vehicle database 210 comprising data structures 300 to establishother required conditions for deployment. For example, the database mayprovide that a particular roadway does not provide a charging service orthe charging service is inactive, wherein the charging panel 108 wouldnot be deployed.

The power source 516 may include at least one electrical transmissionline 624 and at least one power transmitter or charging area 520. Duringa charge, the charging panel 608 may serve to transfer energy from thepower source 516 to at least one energy storage unit 612 (e.g., battery,capacitor, power cell, etc.) of the electric vehicle 100.

FIG. 7 shows a vehicle 100 in a charging station environment 254 inaccordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. Generally,in this embodiment of the disclosure, charging occurs from a roboticunit 700.

Robotic charging unit 700 comprises one or more robotic unit arms 704,at least one robotic unit arm 704 interconnected with charging plate520. The one or more robotic unit arms 704 manoeuver charging plate 520relative to charging panel 608 of vehicle 100. Charging plate 520 ispositioned to a desired or selectable separation distance, as assistedby a separation distance sensor disposed on charging plate 520. Chargingplate 520 may remain at a finite separation distance from charging panel608, or may directly contact charging panel (i.e. such that separationdistance is zero). Charging may be by induction. In alternativeembodiments, separation distance sensor is alternatively or additionallydisposed on robotic arm 704. Vehicle 100 receives charging via chargingpanel 608 which in turn charges energy storage unit 612. Charging panelcontroller 610 is in communication with energy storage unit 612,charging panel 608, vehicle database 300, charge provider controller622, and/or any one of elements of instrument panel 400.

Robotic unit further comprises, is in communication with and/or isinterconnected with charge provider controller 622, power source 516 anda robotic unit database. Power source 516 supplies power, such aselectrical power, to charge plate 520 to enable charging of vehicle 100via charging panel 608. Controller 622 manoeuvers or operates roboticunit 704, either directly and/or completely or with assistance from aremote user, such as a driver or passenger in vehicle 100 by way of, inone embodiment, charging manual controller 432.

FIG. 8 shows a vehicle 100 in an overhead charging environment inaccordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. Generally,in this embodiment of the disclosure, charging occurs from an overheadtowered charging system 258, similar to existing commuter rail systems.Such an overhead towered system 258 may be easier to build and repaircompared to in-roadway systems. Generally, the disclosure includes aspecially-designed overhead roadway charging system comprising anoverhead charging cable or first wire 814 that is configured to engagean overhead contact 824 which provides charge to charging panel 608which provides charge to vehicle energy storage unit 612. The overheadtowered charging system 258 may further comprise second wire 818 toprovide stability and structural strength to the roadway charging system800. The first wire 814 and second wire 818 are strung between towers810.

The overhead charging cable or first wire 814 is analogous to a contactwire used to provide charging to electric trains or other vehicles. Anexternal source provides or supplies electrical power to the first wire814. The charge provider comprises an energy source i.e. a providerbattery and a provider charge circuit or controller in communicationwith the provider battery. The overhead charging cable or first wire 814engages the overhead contact 824 which is in electrical communicationwith charge receiver panel 108. The overhead contact 824 may compriseany known means to connect to overhead electrical power cables, such asa pantograph 820, a bow collector, a trolley pole or any means known tothose skilled in the art. Further disclosure regarding electrical poweror energy transfer via overhead systems is found in US Pat. Publ. No.2013/0105264 to Ruth entitled “Pantograph Assembly,” the entire contentsof which are incorporated by reference for all purposes. In oneembodiment, the charging of vehicle 100 by overhead charging system 800via overhead contact 824 is by any means know to those skilled in theart, to include those described in the above-referenced US Pat. Publ.No. 2013/0105264 to Ruth.

The overhead contact 824 presses against the underside of the lowestoverhead wire of the overhead charging system, i.e. the overheadcharging cable or first wire 814, aka the contact wire. The overheadcontact 824 may be electrically conductive. Alternatively oradditionally, the overhead contact 824 may be adapted to receiveelectrical power from overhead charging cable or first wire 814 byinductive charging.

In one embodiment, the receipt and/or control of the energy provided viaoverhead contact 824 (as connected to the energy storage unit 612) isprovided by receiver charge circuit or charging panel controller 110.

Overhead contact 824 and/or charging panel 608 may be located anywhereon vehicle 100, to include, for example, the roof, side panel, trunk,hood, front or rear bumper of the charge receiver 100 vehicle, as longas the overhead contact 824 may engage the overhead charging cable orfirst wire 814. Charging panel 108 may be stationary (e.g. disposed onthe roof of vehicle 100) or may be moveable, e.g. moveable with thepantograph 820. Pantograph 820 may be positioned in at least two statescomprising retracted and extended. In the extended state pantograph 820engages first wire 814 by way of the overhead contact 824. In theretracted state, pantograph 820 may typically reside flush with the roofof vehicle 100 and extend only when required for charging. Control ofthe charging and/or positioning of the charging plate 608, pantograph820 and/or overhead contact 824 may be manual, automatic orsemi-automatic (such as via controller 610); said control may beperformed through a GUI engaged by driver or occupant of receivingvehicle 100 and/or driver or occupant of charging vehicle.

FIG. 9 shows a vehicle in a roadway environment comprising roadwayvehicles 260 in accordance with another embodiment of the presentdisclosure. Roadway vehicles 260 comprise roadway passive vehicles 910and roadway active vehicles 920. Roadway passive vehicles 910 comprisevehicles that are operating on the roadway of vehicle 100 but do nocooperatively or actively engage with vehicle 100. Stated another way,roadway passive vehicles 910 are simply other vehicles operating on theroadway with the vehicle 100 and must be, among other things, avoided(e.g., to include when vehicle 100 is operating in an autonomous orsemi-autonomous manner). In contrast, roadway active vehicles 920comprise vehicles that are operating on the roadway of vehicle 100 andhave the capability to, or actually are, actively engaging with vehicle100. For example, the emergency charging vehicle system 270 is a roadwayactive vehicle 920 in that it may cooperate or engage with vehicle 100to provide charging. In some embodiments, vehicle 100 may exchange datawith a roadway active vehicle 920 such as, for example, data regardingcharging types available to the roadway active vehicle 920.

FIG. 10 shows a vehicle in an aerial vehicle charging environment inaccordance with another embodiment of the present disclosure. Generally,this embodiment involves an aerial vehicle (“AV”), such as an UnmannedAerial Vehicle (UAV), flying over or near a vehicle to provide a charge.The UAV may also land on the car to provide an emergency (or routine)charge. Such a charging scheme may be particularly suited for operationsin remote areas, in high traffic situations, and/or when the car ismoving. The AV may be a specially-designed UAV, aka RPV or drone, with acharging panel that can extend from the AV to provide a charge. The AVmay include a battery pack and a charging circuit to deliver a charge tothe vehicle. The AV may be a manned aerial vehicle, such as a pilotedgeneral aviation aircraft, such as a Cessna 172.

With reference to FIG. 10, an exemplar embodiment of a vehicle chargingsystem 100 comprising a charge provider configured as an aerial vehicle280, the aerial vehicle 280 comprising a power source 516 and chargeprovider controller 622. The AV may be semi-autonomous or fullyautonomous. The AV may have a remote pilot/operator providing controlinputs. The power source 516 is configured to provide a charge to acharging panel 608 of vehicle 100. The power source 516 is incommunication with the charge provider controller 622. The aerialvehicle 280 provides a tether 1010 to deploy or extend charging plate520 near to charging panel 608. The tether 1010 may comprise a chain,rope, rigid or semi-rigid tow bar or any means to position chargingplate 520 near charging panel 608. For example, tether 1010 may besimilar to a refueling probe used by airborne tanker aircraft whenrefueling another aircraft.

In one embodiment, the charging plate 520 is not in physicalinterconnection to AV 280, that is, there is no tether 1010. In thisembodiment, the charging plate 520 is positioned and controlled by AV280 by way of a controller on AV 280 or in communication with AV 280.

In one embodiment, the charging plate 520 position and/orcharacteristics (e.g. charging power level, flying separation distance,physical engagement on/off) are controlled by vehicle 100 and/or a userin or driver of vehicle 100.

Charge or power output of power source 516 is provided or transmitted tocharger plate 620 by way of a charging cable or wire, which may beintegral to tether 1010. In one embodiment, the charging cable isnon-structural, that is, it provides zero or little structural supportto the connection between AV 280 and charger plate 520.

Charging panel 608 of vehicle 100 receives power from charger plate 520.Charging panel 608 and charger plate 520 may be in direct physicalcontact (termed a “contact” charger configuration) or not in directphysical contact (termed a “flyer” charger configuration), but must beat or below a threshold (separation) distance to enable charging, suchas by induction. Energy transfer or charging from the charger plate 520to the charging panel 608 is inductive charging (i.e. use of an EM fieldto transfer energy between two objects). The charging panel 608 providesreceived power to energy storage unit 612 by way of charging panelcontroller 610. Charging panel controller 610 is in communication withvehicle database 210, vehicle database 210 comprising an AV chargingdata structure.

Charging panel 508 may be located anywhere on vehicle 100, to include,for example, the roof, side panel, trunk, hood, front or rear bumper andwheel hub of vehicle 100. Charging panel 608 is mounted on the roof ofvehicle 100 in the embodiment of FIG. 10. In some embodiments, chargingpanel 608 may be deployable, i.e. may extend or deploy only whencharging is needed. For example, charging panel 608 may typically resideflush with the roof of vehicle 100 and extend when required forcharging. Similarly, charger plate 520 may, in one embodiment, not beconnected to AV 280 by way of tether 1010 and may instead be mounteddirectly on the AV 280, to include, for example, the wing, empennage,undercarriage to include landing gear, and may be deployable orextendable when required. Tether 1010 may be configured to maneuvercharging plate 520 to any position on vehicle 100 so as to enablecharging. In one embodiment, the AV 280 may land on the vehicle 100 soas to enable charging through direct contact (i.e. the aforementionedcontact charging configuration) between the charging plate 520 and thecharging panel 608 of vehicle 100. Charging may occur while both AV 280and vehicle 100 are moving, while both vehicle 100 and AV 280 are notmoving (i.e., vehicle 100 is parked and AV 280 lands on top of vehicle100), or while vehicle 100 is parked and AV 280 is hovering or circlingabove. Control of the charging and/or positioning of the charging plate520 may be manual, automatic or semi-automatic; said control may beperformed through a GUI engaged by driver or occupant of receivingvehicle 100 and/or driver or occupant of charging AV 280.

FIG. 11 is an embodiment of a vehicle emergency charging systemcomprising an emergency charging vehicle 270 and charge receiver vehicle100 is disclosed. The emergency charging vehicle 270 is a road vehicle,such as a pick-up truck, as shown in FIG. 11. The emergency chargingvehicle 270 is configured to provide a charge to a charge receivervehicle 100, such as an automobile. The emergency charging vehicle 270comprises an energy source i.e. a charging power source 516 and a chargeprovider controller 622 in communication with the charging power source516. The emergency charging vehicle 270 provides a towed and/orarticulated charger plate 520, as connected to the emergency chargingvehicle 270 by connector 1150. The connector 1150 may comprise a chain,rope, rigid or semi-rigid tow bar or any means to position charger plate520 near the charging panel 608 of vehicle 100. Charge or power outputof charging power source 516 is provided or transmitted to charger plate520 by way of charging cable or wire 1140. In one embodiment, thecharging cable 1140 is non-structural, that is, it provides little or nostructural support to the connection between emergency charging vehicle270 and charging panel 608. Charging panel 608 (of vehicle 100) receivespower from charger plate 520. Charger plate 520 and charging panel 608may be in direct physical contact or not in direct physical contact, butmust be at or below a threshold separation distance to enable charging,such as by induction. Charger plate 520 may comprise wheels or rollersso as to roll along roadway surface. Charger plate 520 may also notcontact the ground surface and instead be suspended above the ground;such a configuration may be termed a “flying” configuration. In theflying configuration, charger plate may form an aerodynamic surface to,for example, facilitate stability and control of the positioning of thecharging plate 520. Energy transfer or charging from the charger plate520 to the charge receiver panel 608 is through inductive charging (i.e.use of an EM field to transfer energy between two objects). The chargingpanel 608 provides received power to energy storage unit 612 directly orby way of charging panel controller 610. In one embodiment, the receiptand/or control of the energy provided via the charging panel 608 isprovided by charging panel controller 610.

Charging panel controller 610 may be located anywhere on charge receivervehicle 100, to include, for example, the roof, side panel, trunk, hood,front or rear bumper and wheel hub of charge receiver 100 vehicle. Insome embodiments, charging panel 608 may be deployable, i.e. may extendor deploy only when charging is needed. For example, charging panel 608may typically stow flush with the lower plane of vehicle 100 and extendwhen required for charging. Similarly, charger plate 520 may, in oneembodiment, not be connected to the lower rear of the emergency chargingvehicle 270 by way of connector 1150 and may instead be mounted on theemergency charging vehicle 270, to include, for example, the roof, sidepanel, trunk, hood, front or rear bumper and wheel hub of emergencycharging vehicle 270. Connector 1150 may be configured to maneuverconnector plate 520 to any position on emergency charging vehicle 270 soas to enable charging. Control of the charging and/or positioning of thecharging plate may be manual, automatic or semi-automatic; said controlmay be performed through a GUI engaged by driver or occupant ofreceiving vehicle and/or driver or occupant of charging vehicle.

FIG. 12 shows a perspective view of a vehicle 100 in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure. Although shown in the form of acar, it should be appreciated that the vehicle 100 described herein mayinclude any conveyance or model of a conveyance, where the conveyancewas designed for the purpose of moving one or more tangible objects,such as people, animals, cargo, and the like. The term “vehicle” doesnot require that a conveyance moves or is capable of movement. Typicalvehicles may include but are in no way limited to cars, trucks,motorcycles, busses, automobiles, trains, railed conveyances, boats,ships, marine conveyances, submarine conveyances, airplanes, spacecraft, flying machines, human-powered conveyances, and the like. In anyevent, the vehicle 100 may include a frame 1204 and one or more bodypanels 1208 mounted or affixed thereto. The vehicle 100 may include oneor more interior components (e.g., components inside an interior space150, or user space, of a vehicle 100, etc.), exterior components (e.g.,components outside of the interior space 150, or user space, of avehicle 100, etc.), drive systems, controls systems, structuralcomponents.

Referring now to FIG. 13, a plan view of a vehicle 100 will be describedin accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. As providedabove, the vehicle 100 may comprise a number of electrical and/ormechanical systems, subsystems, etc. The mechanical systems of thevehicle 100 can include structural, power, safety, and communicationssubsystems, to name a few. While each subsystem may be describedseparately, it should be appreciated that the components of a particularsubsystem may be shared between one or more other subsystems of thevehicle 100.

The structural subsystem includes the frame 1204 of the vehicle 100. Theframe 1204 may comprise a separate frame and body construction (i.e.,body-on-frame construction), a unitary frame and body construction(i.e., a unibody construction), or any other construction defining thestructure of the vehicle 100. The frame 1204 may be made from one ormore materials including, but in no way limited to steel, titanium,aluminum, carbon fiber, plastic, polymers, etc., and/or combinationsthereof. In some embodiments, the frame 1204 may be formed, welded,fused, fastened, pressed, etc., combinations thereof, or otherwiseshaped to define a physical structure and strength of the vehicle 100.In any event, the frame 1204 may comprise one or more surfaces,connections, protrusions, cavities, mounting points, tabs, slots, orother features that are configured to receive other components that makeup the vehicle 100. For example, the body panels, powertrain subsystem,controls systems, interior components, communications subsystem, andsafety subsystem may interconnect with, or attach to, the frame 1204 ofthe vehicle 100.

The frame 1204 may include one or more modular system and/or subsystemconnection mechanisms. These mechanisms may include features that areconfigured to provide a selectively interchangeable interface for one ormore of the systems and/or subsystems described herein. The mechanismsmay provide for a quick exchange, or swapping, of components whileproviding enhanced security and adaptability over conventionalmanufacturing or attachment. For instance, the ability to selectivelyinterchange systems and/or subsystems in the vehicle 100 allow thevehicle 100 to adapt to the ever-changing technological demands ofsociety and advances in safety. Among other things, the mechanisms mayprovide for the quick exchange of batteries, capacitors, power sources1308A, 1308B, motors 1312, engines, safety equipment, controllers, userinterfaces, interiors exterior components, body panels 1208, bumpers1316, sensors, etc., and/or combinations thereof. Additionally oralternatively, the mechanisms may provide unique security hardwareand/or software embedded therein that, among other things, can preventfraudulent or low quality construction replacements from being used inthe vehicle 100. Similarly, the mechanisms, subsystems, and/or receivingfeatures in the vehicle 100 may employ poka-yoke, or mistake-proofing,features that ensure a particular mechanism is always interconnectedwith the vehicle 100 in a correct position, function, etc.

By way of example, complete systems or subsystems may be removed and/orreplaced from a vehicle 100 utilizing a single minute exchangeprinciple. In some embodiments, the frame 1204 may include slides,receptacles, cavities, protrusions, and/or a number of other featuresthat allow for quick exchange of system components. In one embodiment,the frame 1204 may include tray or ledge features, mechanicalinterconnection features, locking mechanisms, retaining mechanisms,etc., and/or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, it may bebeneficial to quickly remove a used power source 1308A, 1308B (e.g.,battery unit, capacitor unit, etc.) from the vehicle 100 and replace theused power source 1308A, 1308B with a charged power source. Continuingthis example, the power source 1308A, 1308B may include selectivelyinterchangeable features that interconnect with the frame 1204 or otherportion of the vehicle 100. For instance, in a power source 1308A, 1308Breplacement, the quick release features may be configured to release thepower source 1308A, 1308B from an engaged position and slide or moveaway from the frame 1204 of a vehicle 100. Once removed, the powersource 1308A, 1308B may be replaced (e.g., with a new power source, acharged power source, etc.) by engaging the replacement power sourceinto a system receiving position adjacent to the vehicle 100. In someembodiments, the vehicle 100 may include one or more actuatorsconfigured to position, lift, slide, or otherwise engage the replacementpower source with the vehicle 100. In one embodiment, the replacementpower source may be inserted into the vehicle 100 or vehicle frame 1204with mechanisms and/or machines that are external or separate from thevehicle 100.

In some embodiments, the frame 1204 may include one or more featuresconfigured to selectively interconnect with other vehicles and/orportions of vehicles. These selectively interconnecting features canallow for one or more vehicles to selectively couple together anddecouple for a variety of purposes. For example, it is an aspect of thepresent disclosure that a number of vehicles may be selectively coupledtogether to share energy, increase power output, provide security,decrease power consumption, provide towing services, and/or provide arange of other benefits. Continuing this example, the vehicles may becoupled together based on travel route, destination, preferences,settings, sensor information, and/or some other data. The coupling maybe initiated by at least one controller of the vehicle and/or trafficcontrol system upon determining that a coupling is beneficial to one ormore vehicles in a group of vehicles or a traffic system. As can beappreciated, the power consumption for a group of vehicles traveling ina same direction may be reduced or decreased by removing any aerodynamicseparation between vehicles. In this case, the vehicles may be coupledtogether to subject only the foremost vehicle in the coupling to airand/or wind resistance during travel. In one embodiment, the poweroutput by the group of vehicles may be proportionally or selectivelycontrolled to provide a specific output from each of the one or more ofthe vehicles in the group.

The interconnecting, or coupling, features may be configured aselectromagnetic mechanisms, mechanical couplings, electromechanicalcoupling mechanisms, etc., and/or combinations thereof. The features maybe selectively deployed from a portion of the frame 1204 and/or body ofthe vehicle 100. In some cases, the features may be built into the frame1204 and/or body of the vehicle 100. In any event, the features maydeploy from an unexposed position to an exposed position or may beconfigured to selectively engage/disengage without requiring an exposureor deployment of the mechanism from the frame 1204 and/or body. In someembodiments, the interconnecting features may be configured tointerconnect one or more of power, communications, electrical energy,fuel, and/or the like. One or more of the power, mechanical, and/orcommunications connections between vehicles may be part of a singleinterconnection mechanism. In some embodiments, the interconnectionmechanism may include multiple connection mechanisms. In any event, thesingle interconnection mechanism or the interconnection mechanism mayemploy the poka-yoke features as described above.

The power system of the vehicle 100 may include the powertrain, powerdistribution system, accessory power system, and/or any other componentsthat store power, provide power, convert power, and/or distribute powerto one or more portions of the vehicle 100. The powertrain may includethe one or more electric motors 1312 of the vehicle 100. The electricmotors 1312 are configured to convert electrical energy provided by apower source into mechanical energy. This mechanical energy may be inthe form of a rotational or other output force that is configured topropel or otherwise provide a motive force for the vehicle 100.

In some embodiments, the vehicle 100 may include one or more drivewheels 1320 that are driven by the one or more electric motors 1312 andmotor controllers 1314. In some cases, the vehicle 100 may include anelectric motor 1312 configured to provide a driving force for each drivewheel 1320. In other cases, a single electric motor 1312 may beconfigured to share an output force between two or more drive wheels1320 via one or more power transmission components. It is an aspect ofthe present disclosure that the powertrain include one or more powertransmission components, motor controllers 1314, and/or powercontrollers that can provide a controlled output of power to one or moreof the drive wheels 1320 of the vehicle 100. The power transmissioncomponents, power controllers, or motor controllers 1314 may becontrolled by at least one other vehicle controller described herein.

As provided above, the powertrain of the vehicle 100 may include one ormore power sources 1308A, 1308B. These one or more power sources 1308A,1308B may be configured to provide drive power, system and/or subsystempower, accessory power, etc. While described herein as a single powersource 1308 for sake of clarity, embodiments of the present disclosureare not so limited. For example, it should be appreciated thatindependent, different, or separate power sources 1308A, 1308B mayprovide power to various systems of the vehicle 100. For instance, adrive power source may be configured to provide the power for the one ormore electric motors 1312 of the vehicle 100, while a system powersource may be configured to provide the power for one or more othersystems and/or subsystems of the vehicle 100. Other power sources mayinclude an accessory power source, a backup power source, a criticalsystem power source, and/or other separate power sources. Separating thepower sources 1308A, 1308B in this manner may provide a number ofbenefits over conventional vehicle systems. For example, separating thepower sources 1308A, 1308B allow one power source 1308 to be removedand/or replaced independently without requiring that power be removedfrom all systems and/or subsystems of the vehicle 100 during a powersource 1308 removal/replacement. For instance, one or more of theaccessories, communications, safety equipment, and/or backup powersystems, etc., may be maintained even when a particular power source1308A, 1308B is depleted, removed, or becomes otherwise inoperable.

In some embodiments, the drive power source may be separated into two ormore cells, units, sources, and/or systems. By way of example, a vehicle100 may include a first drive power source 1308A and a second drivepower source 1308B. The first drive power source 1308A may be operatedindependently from or in conjunction with the second drive power source1308B and vice versa. Continuing this example, the first drive powersource 1308A may be removed from a vehicle while a second drive powersource 1308B can be maintained in the vehicle 100 to provide drivepower. This approach allows the vehicle 100 to significantly reduceweight (e.g., of the first drive power source 1308A, etc.) and improvepower consumption, even if only for a temporary period of time. In somecases, a vehicle 100 running low on power may automatically determinethat pulling over to a rest area, emergency lane, and removing, or“dropping off,” at least one power source 1308A, 1308B may reduce enoughweight of the vehicle 100 to allow the vehicle 100 to navigate to theclosest power source replacement and/or charging area. In someembodiments, the removed, or “dropped off,” power source 1308A may becollected by a collection service, vehicle mechanic, tow truck, or evenanother vehicle or individual.

The power source 1308 may include a GPS or other geographical locationsystem that may be configured to emit a location signal to one or morereceiving entities. For instance, the signal may be broadcast ortargeted to a specific receiving party. Additionally or alternatively,the power source 1308 may include a unique identifier that may be usedto associate the power source 1308 with a particular vehicle 100 orvehicle user. This unique identifier may allow an efficient recovery ofthe power source 1308 dropped off. In some embodiments, the uniqueidentifier may provide information for the particular vehicle 100 orvehicle user to be billed or charged with a cost of recovery for thepower source 1308.

The power source 1308 may include a charge controller 1324 that may beconfigured to determine charge levels of the power source 1308, controla rate at which charge is drawn from the power source 1308, control arate at which charge is added to the power source 1308, and/or monitor ahealth of the power source 1308 (e.g., one or more cells, portions,etc.). In some embodiments, the charge controller 1324 or the powersource 1308 may include a communication interface. The communicationinterface can allow the charge controller 1324 to report a state of thepower source 1308 to one or more other controllers of the vehicle 100 oreven communicate with a communication device separate and/or apart fromthe vehicle 100. Additionally or alternatively, the communicationinterface may be configured to receive instructions (e.g., controlinstructions, charge instructions, communication instructions, etc.)from one or more other controllers of the vehicle 100 or a communicationdevice that is separate and/or apart from the vehicle 100.

The powertrain includes one or more power distribution systemsconfigured to transmit power from the power source 1308 to one or moreelectric motors 1312 in the vehicle 100. The power distribution systemmay include electrical interconnections 1328 in the form of cables,wires, traces, wireless power transmission systems, etc., and/orcombinations thereof. It is an aspect of the present disclosure that thevehicle 100 include one or more redundant electrical interconnections1332 of the power distribution system. The redundant electricalinterconnections 1332 can allow power to be distributed to one or moresystems and/or subsystems of the vehicle 100 even in the event of afailure of an electrical interconnection portion of the vehicle 100(e.g., due to an accident, mishap, tampering, or other harm to aparticular electrical interconnection, etc.). In some embodiments, auser of a vehicle 100 may be alerted via a user interface associatedwith the vehicle 100 that a redundant electrical interconnection 1332 isbeing used and/or damage has occurred to a particular area of thevehicle electrical system. In any event, the one or more redundantelectrical interconnections 1332 may be configured along completelydifferent routes than the electrical interconnections 1328 and/orinclude different modes of failure than the electrical interconnections1328 to, among other things, prevent a total interruption powerdistribution in the event of a failure.

In some embodiments, the power distribution system may include an energyrecovery system 1336. This energy recovery system 1336, or kineticenergy recovery system, may be configured to recover energy produced bythe movement of a vehicle 100. The recovered energy may be stored aselectrical and/or mechanical energy. For instance, as a vehicle 100travels or moves, a certain amount of energy is required to accelerate,maintain a speed, stop, or slow the vehicle 100. In any event, a movingvehicle has a certain amount of kinetic energy. When brakes are appliedin a typical moving vehicle, most of the kinetic energy of the vehicleis lost as the generation of heat in the braking mechanism. In an energyrecovery system 1336, when a vehicle 100 brakes, at least a portion ofthe kinetic energy is converted into electrical and/or mechanical energyfor storage. Mechanical energy may be stored as mechanical movement(e.g., in a flywheel, etc.) and electrical energy may be stored inbatteries, capacitors, and/or some other electrical storage system. Insome embodiments, electrical energy recovered may be stored in the powersource 1308. For example, the recovered electrical energy may be used tocharge the power source 1308 of the vehicle 100.

The vehicle 100 may include one or more safety systems. Vehicle safetysystems can include a variety of mechanical and/or electrical componentsincluding, but in no way limited to, low impact or energy-absorbingbumpers 1316A, 1316B, crumple zones, reinforced body panels, reinforcedframe components, impact bars, power source containment zones, safetyglass, seatbelts, supplemental restraint systems, air bags, escapehatches, removable access panels, impact sensors, accelerometers, visionsystems, radar systems, etc., and/or the like. In some embodiments, theone or more of the safety components may include a safety sensor orgroup of safety sensors associated with the one or more of the safetycomponents. For example, a crumple zone may include one or more straingages, impact sensors, pressure transducers, etc. These sensors may beconfigured to detect or determine whether a portion of the vehicle 100has been subjected to a particular force, deformation, or other impact.Once detected, the information collected by the sensors may betransmitted or sent to one or more of a controller of the vehicle 100(e.g., a safety controller, vehicle controller, etc.) or a communicationdevice associated with the vehicle 100 (e.g., across a communicationnetwork, etc.).

FIG. 14 shows a plan view of the vehicle 100 in accordance withembodiments of the present disclosure. In particular, FIG. 14 shows abroken section 1402 of a charging system for the vehicle 100. Thecharging system may include a plug or receptacle 1404 configured toreceive power from an external power source (e.g., a source of powerthat is external to and/or separate from the vehicle 100, etc.). Anexample of an external power source may include the standard industrial,commercial, or residential power that is provided across power lines.Another example of an external power source may include a proprietarypower system configured to provide power to the vehicle 100. In anyevent, power received at the plug/receptacle 1404 may be transferred viaat least one power transmission interconnection 1408. Similar, if notidentical, to the electrical interconnections 1328 described above, theat least one power transmission interconnection 1408 may be one or morecables, wires, traces, wireless power transmission systems, etc., and/orcombinations thereof. Electrical energy in the form of charge can betransferred from the external power source to the charge controller1324. As provided above, the charge controller 1324 may regulate theaddition of charge to the power source 1308 of the vehicle 100 (e.g.,until the power source 1308 is full or at a capacity, etc.).

In some embodiments, the vehicle 100 may include an inductive chargingsystem and inductive charger 1412. The inductive charger 1412 may beconfigured to receive electrical energy from an inductive power sourceexternal to the vehicle 100. In one embodiment, when the vehicle 100and/or the inductive charger 1412 is positioned over an inductive powersource external to the vehicle 100, electrical energy can be transferredfrom the inductive power source to the vehicle 100. For example, theinductive charger 1412 may receive the charge and transfer the chargevia at least one power transmission interconnection 1408 to the chargecontroller 1324 and/or the power source 1308 of the vehicle 100. Theinductive charger 1412 may be concealed in a portion of the vehicle 100(e.g., at least partially protected by the frame 1204, one or more bodypanels 1208, a shroud, a shield, a protective cover, etc., and/orcombinations thereof) and/or may be deployed from the vehicle 100. Insome embodiments, the inductive charger 1412 may be configured toreceive charge only when the inductive charger 1412 is deployed from thevehicle 100. In other embodiments, the inductive charger 1412 may beconfigured to receive charge while concealed in the portion of thevehicle 100.

In addition to the mechanical components described herein, the vehicle100 may include a number of user interface devices. The user interfacedevices receive and translate human input into a mechanical movement orelectrical signal or stimulus. The human input may be one or more ofmotion (e.g., body movement, body part movement, in two-dimensional orthree-dimensional space, etc.), voice, touch, and/or physicalinteraction with the components of the vehicle 100. In some embodiments,the human input may be configured to control one or more functions ofthe vehicle 100 and/or systems of the vehicle 100 described herein. Userinterfaces may include, but are in no way limited to, at least onegraphical user interface of a display device, steering wheel ormechanism, transmission lever or button (e.g., including park, neutral,reverse, and/or drive positions, etc.), throttle control pedal ormechanism, brake control pedal or mechanism, power control switch,communications equipment, etc.

An embodiment of the electrical system 1500 associated with the vehicle100 may be as shown in FIG. 15. The electrical system 1500 can includepower source(s) that generate power, power storage that stores power,and/or load(s) that consume power. Power sources may be associated witha power generation unit 1504. Power storage may be associated with apower storage system 612. Loads may be associated with loads 1508. Theelectrical system 1500 may be managed by a power management controller1324. Further, the electrical system 1500 can include one or more otherinterfaces or controllers, which can include the billing and costcontrol unit 1512.

The power generation unit 1504 may be as described in conjunction withFIG. 16. The power storage component 612 may be as described inconjunction with FIG. 17. The loads 1508 may be as described inconjunction with FIG. 18.

The billing and cost control unit 1512 may interface with the powermanagement controller 1324 to determine the amount of charge or powerprovided to the power storage 612 through the power generation unit1504. The billing and cost control unit 1512 can then provideinformation for billing the vehicle owner. Thus, the billing and costcontrol unit 1512 can receive and/or send power information to thirdparty system(s) regarding the received charge from an external source.The information provided can help determine an amount of money required,from the owner of the vehicle, as payment for the provided power.Alternatively, or in addition, if the owner of the vehicle providedpower to another vehicle (or another device/system), that owner may beowed compensation for the provided power or energy, e.g., a credit.

The power management controller 1324 can be a computer or computingsystem(s) and/or electrical system with associated components, asdescribed herein, capable of managing the power generation unit 1504 toreceive power, routing the power to the power storage 612, and thenproviding the power from either the power generation unit 1504 and/orthe power storage 612 to the loads 1508. Thus, the power managementcontroller 1324 may execute programming that controls switches, devices,components, etc. involved in the reception, storage, and provision ofthe power in the electrical system 1500.

An embodiment of the power generation unit 1504 may be as shown in FIG.16. Generally, the power generation unit 1504 may be electricallycoupled to one or more power sources 1308. The power sources 1308 caninclude power sources internal and/or associated with the vehicle 100and/or power sources external to the vehicle 100 to which the vehicle100 electrically connects. One of the internal power sources can includean on board generator 1604. The generator 1604 may be an alternatingcurrent (AC) generator, a direct current (DC) generator or aself-excited generator. The AC generators can include inductiongenerators, linear electric generators, and/or other types ofgenerators. The DC generators can include homopolar generators and/orother types of generators. The generator 1604 can be brushless orinclude brush contacts and generate the electric field with permanentmagnets or through induction. The generator 1604 may be mechanicallycoupled to a source of kinetic energy, such as an axle or some otherpower take-off. The generator 1604 may also have another mechanicalcoupling to an exterior source of kinetic energy, for example, a windturbine.

Another power source 1308 may include wired or wireless charging 1608.The wireless charging system 1608 may include inductive and/or resonantfrequency inductive charging systems that can include coils, frequencygenerators, controllers, etc. Wired charging may be any kind ofgrid-connected charging that has a physical connection, although, thewireless charging may be grid connected through a wireless interface.The wired charging system can include an connectors, wiredinterconnections, the controllers, etc. The wired and wireless chargingsystems 1608 can provide power to the power generation unit 1504 fromexternal power sources 1308.

Internal sources for power may include a regenerative braking system1612. The regenerative braking system 1612 can convert the kineticenergy of the moving car into electrical energy through a generationsystem mounted within the wheels, axle, and/or braking system of thevehicle 100. The regenerative braking system 1612 can include any coils,magnets, electrical interconnections, converters, controllers, etc.required to convert the kinetic energy into electrical energy.

Another source of power 1308, internal to or associated with the vehicle100, may be a solar array 1616. The solar array 1616 may include anysystem or device of one or more solar cells mounted on the exterior ofthe vehicle 100 or integrated within the body panels of the vehicle 100that provides or converts solar energy into electrical energy to provideto the power generation unit 1504.

The power sources 1308 may be connected to the power generation unit1504 through an electrical interconnection 1618. The electricalinterconnection 1618 can include any wire, interface, bus, etc. betweenthe one or more power sources 1308 and the power generation unit 1504.

The power generation unit 1504 can also include a power source interface1620. The power source interface 1620 can be any type of physical and/orelectrical interface used to receive the electrical energy from the oneor more power sources 1308; thus, the power source interface 1620 caninclude an electrical interface 1624 that receives the electrical energyand a mechanical interface 1628 which may include wires, connectors, orother types of devices or physical connections. The mechanical interface1608 can also include a physical/electrical connection 1634 to the powergeneration unit 1504.

The electrical energy from the power source 1308 can be processedthrough the power source interface 1624 to an electric converter 1632.The electric converter 1632 may convert the characteristics of the powerfrom one of the power sources into a useable form that may be usedeither by the power storage 612 or one or more loads 1508 within thevehicle 100. The electrical converter 1624 may include any electronicsor electrical devices and/or component that can change electricalcharacteristics, e.g., AC frequency, amplitude, phase, etc. associatedwith the electrical energy provided by the power source 1308. Theconverted electrical energy may then be provided to an optionalconditioner 1638. The conditioner 1638 may include any electronics orelectrical devices and/or component that may further condition theconverted electrical energy by removing harmonics, noise, etc. from theelectrical energy to provide a more stable and effective form of powerto the vehicle 100.

An embodiment of the power storage 1612 may be as shown in FIG. 17. Thepower storage unit can include an electrical converter 1632 b, one ormore batteries, one or more rechargeable batteries, one or morecapacitors, one or more accumulators, one or more supercapacitors, oneor more ultrabatteries, and/or superconducting magnetics 1704, and/or acharge management unit 1708. The converter 1632 b may be the same orsimilar to the electrical converter 1632 a shown in FIG. 16. Theconverter 1632 b may be a replacement for the electric converter 1632 ashown in FIG. 16 and thus eliminate the need for the electricalconverter 1632 a as shown in FIG. 16. However, if the electricalconverter 1632 a is provided in the power generation unit 1504, theconverter 1632 b, as shown in the power storage unit 612, may beeliminated. The converter 1632 b can also be redundant or different fromthe electrical converter 1632 a shown in FIG. 16 and may provide adifferent form of energy to the battery and/or capacitors 1704. Thus,the converter 1632 b can change the energy characteristics specificallyfor the battery/capacitor 1704.

The battery 1704 can be any type of battery for storing electricalenergy, for example, a lithium ion battery, a lead acid battery, anickel cadmium battery, etc. Further, the battery 1704 may includedifferent types of power storage systems, such as, ionic fluids or othertypes of fuel cell systems. The energy storage 1704 may also include oneor more high-capacity capacitors 1704. The capacitors 1704 may be usedfor long-term or short-term storage of electrical energy. The input intothe battery or capacitor 1704 may be different from the output, andthus, the capacitor 1704 may be charged quickly but drain slowly. Thefunctioning of the converter 1632 and battery capacitor 1704 may bemonitored or managed by a charge management unit 1708.

The charge management unit 1708 can include any hardware (e.g., anyelectronics or electrical devices and/or components), software, orfirmware operable to adjust the operations of the converter 1632 orbatteries/capacitors 1704. The charge management unit 1708 can receiveinputs or periodically monitor the converter 1632 and/orbattery/capacitor 1704 from this information; the charge management unit1708 may then adjust settings or inputs into the converter 1632 orbattery/capacitor 1704 to control the operation of the power storagesystem 612.

An embodiment of one or more loads 1508 associated with the vehicle 100may be as shown in FIG. 18. The loads 1508 may include a bus orelectrical interconnection system 1802, which provides electrical energyto one or more different loads within the vehicle 100. The bus 1802 canbe any number of wires or interfaces used to connect the powergeneration unit 1504 and/or power storage 1612 to the one or more loads1508. The converter 1632 c may be an interface from the power generationunit 1504 or the power storage 612 into the loads 1508. The converter1632 c may be the same or similar to electric converter 1632 a as shownin FIG. 16. Similar to the discussion of the converter 1632 b in FIG.17, the converter 1632 c may be eliminated, if the electric converter1632 a, shown in FIG. 16, is present. However, the converter 1632 c mayfurther condition or change the energy characteristics for the bus 1802for use by the loads 1508. The converter 1632 c may also provideelectrical energy to electric motor 1804, which may power the vehicle100.

The electric motor 1804 can be any type of DC or AC electric motor. Theelectric motor may be a direct drive or induction motor using permanentmagnets and/or winding either on the stator or rotor. The electric motor1804 may also be wireless or include brush contacts. The electric motor1804 may be capable of providing a torque and enough kinetic energy tomove the vehicle 100 in traffic.

The different loads 1508 may also include environmental loads 1812,sensor loads 1816, safety loads 1820, user interaction loads 1808, etc.User interaction loads 1808 can be any energy used by user interfaces orsystems that interact with the driver and/or passenger(s). These loads1808 may include, for example, the heads up display, the dash display,the radio, user interfaces on the head unit, lights, radio, and/or othertypes of loads that provide or receive information from the occupants ofthe vehicle 100. The environmental loads 1812 can be any loads used tocontrol the environment within the vehicle 100. For example, the airconditioning or heating unit of the vehicle 100 can be environmentalloads 1812. Other environmental loads can include lights, fans, and/ordefrosting units, etc. that may control the environment within thevehicle 100. The sensor loads 1816 can be any loads used by sensors, forexample, air bag sensors, GPS, and other such sensors used to eithermanage or control the vehicle 100 and/or provide information or feedbackto the vehicle occupants. The safety loads 1820 can include any safetyequipment, for example, seat belt alarms, airbags, headlights, blinkers,etc. that may be used to manage the safety of the occupants. There maybe more or fewer loads than those described herein, although they maynot be shown in FIG. 18.

FIG. 19 illustrates an exemplary hardware diagram of communicationscomponentry that can be optionally associated with the vehicle.

The communications componentry can include one or more wired or wirelessdevices such as a transceiver(s) and/or modem that allows communicationsnot only between the various systems disclosed herein but also withother devices, such as devices on a network, and/or on a distributednetwork such as the Internet and/or in the cloud.

The communications subsystem can also include inter- and intra-vehiclecommunications capabilities such as hotspot and/or access pointconnectivity for any one or more of the vehicle occupants and/orvehicle-to-vehicle communications.

Additionally, and while not specifically illustrated, the communicationssubsystem can include one or more communications links (that can bewired or wireless) and/or communications busses (managed by the busmanager 1974), including one or more of CANbus, OBD-II, ARCINC 429,Byteflight, CAN (Controller Area Network), D2B (Domestic Digital Bus),FlexRay, DC-BUS, IDB-1394, IEBus, I²C, ISO 9141-1/-2, J1708, J1587,J1850, J1939, ISO 11783, Keyword Protocol 2000, LIN (Local InterconnectNetwork), MOST (Media Oriended Systems Transport), Multifunction VehicleBus, SMARTwireX, SPI, VAN (Vehicle Area Network), and the like or ingeneral any communications protocol and/or standard.

The various protocols and communications can be communicated one or moreof wirelessly and/or over transmission media such as single wire,twisted pair, fibre optic, IEEE 1394, MIL-STD-1553, MIL-STD-1773,power-line communication, or the like. (All of the above standards andprotocols are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety)

As discussed, the communications subsystem enables communicationsbetween any if the inter-vehicle systems and subsystems as well ascommunications with non-collocated resources, such as those reachableover a network such as the Internet.

The communications subsystem, in addition to well-known componentry(which has been omitted for clarity), the device communicationssubsystem 1900 includes interconnected elements including one or moreof: one or more antennas 1904, an interleaver/deinterleaver 1908, ananalog front end (AFE) 1912, memory/storage/cache 1916,controller/microprocessor 1920, MAC circuitry 1922,modulator/demodulator 1924, encoder/decoder 1928, a plurality ofconnectivity managers 1934-1966, GPU 1940, accelerator 1944, amultiplexer/demultiplexer 1954, transmitter 1970, receiver 1972 andwireless radio 1978 components such as a Wi-Fi PHY/Bluetooth® module1980, a Wi-Fi/BT MAC module 1984, transmitter 1988 and receiver 1992.The various elements in the device 1900 are connected by one or morelinks/busses 5 (not shown, again for sake of clarity).

The device 400 can have one more antennas 1904, for use in wirelesscommunications such as multi-input multi-output (MIMO) communications,multi-user multi-input multi-output (MU-MIMO) communications Bluetooth®,LTE, 4G, 5G, Near-Field Communication (NFC), etc. The antenna(s) 1904can include, but are not limited to one or more of directional antennas,omnidirectional antennas, monopoles, patch antennas, loop antennas,microstrip antennas, dipoles, and any other antenna(s) suitable forcommunication transmission/reception. In an exemplary embodiment,transmission/reception using MIMO may require particular antennaspacing. In another exemplary embodiment, MIMO transmission/receptioncan enable spatial diversity allowing for different channelcharacteristics at each of the antennas. In yet another embodiment, MIMOtransmission/reception can be used to distribute resources to multipleusers for example within the vehicle and/or in another vehicle.

Antenna(s) 1904 generally interact with the Analog Front End (AFE) 1912,which is needed to enable the correct processing of the receivedmodulated signal and signal conditioning for a transmitted signal. TheAFE 1912 can be functionally located between the antenna and a digitalbaseband system in order to convert the analog signal into a digitalsignal for processing and vice-versa.

The subsystem 1900 can also include a controller/microprocessor 1920 anda memory/storage/cache 1916. The subsystem 1900 can interact with thememory/storage/cache 1916 which may store information and operationsnecessary for configuring and transmitting or receiving the informationdescribed herein. The memory/storage/cache 1916 may also be used inconnection with the execution of application programming or instructionsby the controller/microprocessor 1920, and for temporary or long termstorage of program instructions and/or data. As examples, thememory/storage/cache 1920 may comprise a computer-readable device, RAM,ROM, DRAM, SDRAM, and/or other storage device(s) and media.

The controller/microprocessor 1920 may comprise a general purposeprogrammable processor or controller for executing applicationprogramming or instructions related to the subsystem 1900. Furthermore,the controller/microprocessor 1920 can perform operations forconfiguring and transmitting/receiving information as described herein.The controller/microprocessor 1920 may include multiple processor cores,and/or implement multiple virtual processors. Optionally, thecontroller/microprocessor 1920 may include multiple physical processors.By way of example, the controller/microprocessor 1920 may comprise aspecially configured Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) orother integrated circuit, a digital signal processor(s), a controller, ahardwired electronic or logic circuit, a programmable logic device orgate array, a special purpose computer, or the like.

The subsystem 1900 can further include a transmitter 1970 and receiver1972 which can transmit and receive signals, respectively, to and fromother devices, subsystems and/or other destinations using the one ormore antennas 1904 and/or links/busses. Included in the subsystem 1900circuitry is the medium access control or MAC Circuitry 1922. MACcircuitry 1922 provides for controlling access to the wireless medium.In an exemplary embodiment, the MAC circuitry 1922 may be arranged tocontend for the wireless medium and configure frames or packets forcommunicating over the wireless medium.

The subsystem 1900 can also optionally contain a security module (notshown). This security module can contain information regarding but notlimited to, security parameters required to connect the device to one ormore other devices or other available network(s), and can include WEP orWPA/WPA-2 (optionally+AES and/or TKIP) security access keys, networkkeys, etc. The WEP security access key is a security password used byWi-Fi networks. Knowledge of this code can enable a wireless device toexchange information with an access point and/or another device. Theinformation exchange can occur through encoded messages with the WEPaccess code often being chosen by the network administrator. WPA is anadded security standard that is also used in conjunction with networkconnectivity with stronger encryption than WEP.

The exemplary subsystem 1900 also includes a GPU 1940, an accelerator1944, a Wi-Fi/BT/BLE PHY module 1980 and a Wi-Fi/BT/BLE MAC module 1984and wireless transmitter 1988 and receiver 1992. In some embodiments,the GPU 1940 may be a graphics processing unit, or visual processingunit, comprising at least one circuit and/or chip that manipulates andchanges memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame bufferfor output to at least one display device. The GPU 1940 may include oneor more of a display device connection port, printed circuit board(PCB), a GPU chip, a metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor(MOSFET), memory (e.g., single data rate random-access memory (SDRAM),double data rate random-access memory (DDR) RAM, etc., and/orcombinations thereof), a secondary processing chip (e.g., handling videoout capabilities, processing, and/or other functions in addition to theGPU chip, etc.), a capacitor, heatsink, temperature control or coolingfan, motherboard connection, shielding, and the like.

The various connectivity managers 1934-1966 (even) manage and/orcoordinate communications between the subsystem 1900 and one or more ofthe systems disclosed herein and one or more other devices/systems. Theconnectivity managers include an emergency charging connectivity manager1934, an aerial charging connectivity manager 1938, a roadway chargingconnectivity manager 1942, an overhead charging connectivity manager1946, a robotic charging connectivity manager 1950, a static chargingconnectivity manager 1954, a vehicle database connectivity manager 1958,a remote operating system connectivity manager 1962 and a sensorconnectivity manager 1966.

The emergency charging connectivity manager 1934 can coordinate not onlythe physical connectivity between the vehicle and the emergency chargingdevice/vehicle, but can also communicate with one or more of the powermanagement controller, one or more third parties and optionally abilling system(s). As an example, the vehicle can establishcommunications with the emergency charging device/vehicle to one or moreof coordinate interconnectivity between the two (e.g., by spatiallyaligning the charging receptacle on the vehicle with the charger on theemergency charging vehicle) and optionally share navigation information.Once charging is complete, the amount of charge provided can be trackedand optionally forwarded to, for example, a third party for billing. Inaddition to being able to manage connectivity for the exchange of power,the emergency charging connectivity manager 1934 can also communicateinformation, such as billing information to the emergency chargingvehicle and/or a third party. This billing information could be, forexample, the owner of the vehicle, the driver of the vehicle, companyinformation, or in general any information usable to charge theappropriate entity for the power received.

The aerial charging connectivity manager 1938 can coordinate not onlythe physical connectivity between the vehicle and the aerial chargingdevice/vehicle, but can also communicate with one or more of the powermanagement controller, one or more third parties and optionally abilling system(s). As an example, the vehicle can establishcommunications with the aerial charging device/vehicle to one or more ofcoordinate interconnectivity between the two (e.g., by spatiallyaligning the charging receptacle on the vehicle with the charger on theemergency charging vehicle) and optionally share navigation information.Once charging is complete, the amount of charge provided can be trackedand optionally forwarded to, for example, a third party for billing. Inaddition to being able to manage connectivity for the exchange of power,the aerial charging connectivity manager 1938 can similarly communicateinformation, such as billing information to the aerial charging vehicleand/or a third party. This billing information could be, for example,the owner of the vehicle, the driver of the vehicle, companyinformation, or in general any information usable to charge theappropriate entity for the power received etc., as discussed.

The roadway charging connectivity manager 1942 and overhead chargingconnectivity manager 1946 can coordinate not only the physicalconnectivity between the vehicle and the charging device/system, but canalso communicate with one or more of the power management controller,one or more third parties and optionally a billing system(s). As oneexample, the vehicle can request a charge from the charging system when,for example, the vehicle needs or is predicted to need power. As anexample, the vehicle can establish communications with the chargingdevice/vehicle to one or more of coordinate interconnectivity betweenthe two for charging and share information for billing. Once charging iscomplete, the amount of charge provided can be tracked and optionallyforwarded to, for example, a third party for billing. This billinginformation could be, for example, the owner of the vehicle, the driverof the vehicle, company information, or in general any informationusable to charge the appropriate entity for the power received etc., asdiscussed. The person responsible for paying for the charge could alsoreceive a copy of the billing information as is customary. The roboticcharging connectivity manager 1950 and static charging connectivitymanager 1954 can operate in a similar manner to that described herein.

The vehicle database connectivity manager 1958 allows the subsystem toreceive and/or share information stored in the vehicle database. Thisinformation can be shared with other vehicle components/subsystemsand/or other entities, such as third parties and/or charging systems.The information can also be shared with one or more vehicle occupantdevices, such as an app on a mobile device the driver uses to trackinformation about the vehicle and/or a dealer or service/maintenanceprovider. In general any information stored in the vehicle database canoptionally be shared with any one or more other devices optionallysubject to any privacy or confidentially restrictions.

The remote operating system connectivity manager 1962 facilitatescommunications between the vehicle and any one or more autonomousvehicle systems. These communications can include one or more ofnavigation information, vehicle information, occupant information, or ingeneral any information related to the remote operation of the vehicle.

The sensor connectivity manager 1966 facilitates communications betweenany one or more of the vehicle sensors and any one or more of the othervehicle systems. The sensor connectivity manager 1966 can alsofacilitate communications between any one or more of the sensors and/orvehicle systems and any other destination, such as a service company,app, or in general to any destination where sensor data is needed.

In accordance with one exemplary embodiment, any of the communicationsdiscussed herein can be communicated via the conductor(s) used forcharging. One exemplary protocol usable for these communications isPower-line communication (PLC). PLC is a communication protocol thatuses electrical wiring to simultaneously carry both data, andAlternating Current (AC) electric power transmission or electric powerdistribution. It is also known as power-line carrier, power-line digitalsubscriber line (PDSL), mains communication, power-linetelecommunications, or power-line networking (PLN). For DC environmentsin vehicles PLC can be used in conjunction with CAN-bus, LIN-bus overpower line (DC-LIN) and DC-BUS.

The communications subsystem can also optionally manage one or moreidentifiers, such as an IP (internet protocol) address(es), associatedwith the vehicle and one or other system or subsystems or componentstherein. These identifiers can be used in conjunction with any one ormore of the connectivity managers as discussed herein.

FIG. 19B illustrates a block diagram of a computing environment 1901that may function as the servers, user computers, or other systemsprovided and described above. The environment 1901 includes one or moreuser computers, or computing devices, such as a vehicle computing device1903, a communication device 1907, and/or more 1911. The computingdevices 1903, 1907, 1911 may include general purpose personal computers(including, merely by way of example, personal computers, and/or laptopcomputers running various versions of Microsoft Corp.'s Windows® and/orApple Corp.'s Macintosh® operating systems) and/or workstation computersrunning any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-likeoperating systems. These computing devices 1903, 1907, 1911 may alsohave any of a variety of applications, including for example, databaseclient and/or server applications, and web browser applications.Alternatively, the computing devices 1903, 1907, 1911 may be any otherelectronic device, such as a thin-client computer, Internet-enabledmobile telephone, and/or personal digital assistant, capable ofcommunicating via a network 1909 and/or displaying and navigating webpages or other types of electronic documents. Although the exemplarycomputer environment 1901 is shown with two computing devices, anynumber of user computers or computing devices may be supported.

Environment 1901 further includes a network 1909. The network 1909 maycan be any type of network familiar to those skilled in the art that cansupport data communications using any of a variety ofcommercially-available protocols, including without limitation SIP,TCP/IP, SNA, IPX, AppleTalk, and the like. Merely by way of example, thenetwork 1909 maybe a local area network (“LAN”), such as an Ethernetnetwork, a Token-Ring network and/or the like; a wide-area network; avirtual network, including without limitation a virtual private network(“VPN”); the Internet; an intranet; an extranet; a public switchedtelephone network (“PSTN”); an infra-red network; a wireless network(e.g., a network operating under any of the IEEE 802.9 suite ofprotocols, the Bluetooth® protocol known in the art, and/or any otherwireless protocol); and/or any combination of these and/or othernetworks.

The system may also include one or more servers 1913, 1915. In thisexample, server 1913 is shown as a web server and server 1915 is shownas an application server. The web server 1913, which may be used toprocess requests for web pages or other electronic documents fromcomputing devices 1903, 1907, 1911. The web server 1913 can be runningan operating system including any of those discussed above, as well asany commercially-available server operating systems. The web server 1913can also run a variety of server applications, including SIP servers,HTTP servers, FTP servers, CGI servers, database servers, Java servers,and the like. In some instances, the web server 1913 may publishoperations available operations as one or more web services.

The environment 1901 may also include one or more file andor/application servers 1915, which can, in addition to an operatingsystem, include one or more applications accessible by a client runningon one or more of the computing devices 1903, 1907, 1911. The server(s)1915 and/or 1913 may be one or more general purpose computers capable ofexecuting programs or scripts in response to the computing devices 1903,1907, 1911. As one example, the server 1915, 1913 may execute one ormore web applications. The web application may be implemented as one ormore scripts or programs written in any programming language, such asJava™, C, C#®, or C++, and/or any scripting language, such as Perl,Python, or TCL, as well as combinations of any programming/scriptinglanguages. The application server(s) 1915 may also include databaseservers, including without limitation those commercially available fromOracle, Microsoft, Sybase™, IBM™ and the like, which can processrequests from database clients running on a computing device 1903, 1907,1911.

The web pages created by the server 1913 and/or 1915 may be forwarded toa computing device 1903, 1907, 1911 via a web (file) server 1913, 1915.Similarly, the web server 1913 may be able to receive web page requests,web services invocations, and/or input data from a computing device1903, 1907, 1911 (e.g., a user computer, etc.) and can forward the webpage requests and/or input data to the web (application) server 1915. Infurther embodiments, the server 1915 may function as a file server.Although for ease of description, FIG. 19B illustrates a separate webserver 1913 and file/application server 1915, those skilled in the artwill recognize that the functions described with respect to servers1913, 1915 may be performed by a single server and/or a plurality ofspecialized servers, depending on implementation-specific needs andparameters. The computer systems 1903, 1907, 1911, web (file) server1913 and/or web (application) server 1915 may function as the system,devices, or components described in FIGS. 1-19A.

The environment 1901 may also include a database 1917. The database 1917may reside in a variety of locations. By way of example, database 1917may reside on a storage medium local to (and/or resident in) one or moreof the computers 1903, 1907, 1911, 1913, 1915. Alternatively, it may beremote from any or all of the computers 1903, 1907, 1911, 1913, 1915,and in communication (e.g., via the network 1909) with one or more ofthese. The database 1917 may reside in a storage-area network (“SAN”)familiar to those skilled in the art. Similarly, any necessary files forperforming the functions attributed to the computers 1903, 1907, 1911,1913, 1915 may be stored locally on the respective computer and/orremotely, as appropriate. The database 1917 may be a relationaldatabase, such as Oracle 20i®, that is adapted to store, update, andretrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.

FIG. 19C illustrates one embodiment of a computer system 1919 upon whichthe servers, user computers, computing devices, or other systems orcomponents described above may be deployed or executed. The computersystem 1919 is shown comprising hardware elements that may beelectrically coupled via a bus 1921. The hardware elements may includeone or more central processing units (CPUs) 1923; one or more inputdevices 1925 (e.g., a mouse, a keyboard, etc.); and one or more outputdevices 1927 (e.g., a display device, a printer, etc.). The computersystem 1919 may also include one or more storage devices 1929. By way ofexample, storage device(s) 1929 may be disk drives, optical storagedevices, solid-state storage devices such as a random access memory(“RAM”) and/or a read-only memory (“ROM”), which can be programmable,flash-updateable and/or the like.

The computer system 1919 may additionally include a computer-readablestorage media reader 1931; a communications system 1933 (e.g., a modem,a network card (wireless or wired), an infra-red communication device,etc.); and working memory 1937, which may include RAM and ROM devices asdescribed above. The computer system 1919 may also include a processingacceleration unit 1935, which can include a DSP, a special-purposeprocessor, and/or the like.

The computer-readable storage media reader 1931 can further be connectedto a computer-readable storage medium, together (and, optionally, incombination with storage device(s) 1929) comprehensively representingremote, local, fixed, and/or removable storage devices plus storagemedia for temporarily and/or more permanently containingcomputer-readable information. The communications system 1933 may permitdata to be exchanged with a network and/or any other computer describedabove with respect to the computer environments described herein.Moreover, as disclosed herein, the term “storage medium” may representone or more devices for storing data, including read only memory (ROM),random access memory (RAM), magnetic RAM, core memory, magnetic diskstorage mediums, optical storage mediums, flash memory devices and/orother machine readable mediums for storing information.

The computer system 1919 may also comprise software elements, shown asbeing currently located within a working memory 1937, including anoperating system 1939 and/or other code 1941. It should be appreciatedthat alternate embodiments of a computer system 1919 may have numerousvariations from that described above. For example, customized hardwaremight also be used and/or particular elements might be implemented inhardware, software (including portable software, such as applets), orboth. Further, connection to other computing devices such as networkinput/output devices may be employed.

Examples of the processors 1923 as described herein may include, but arenot limited to, at least one of Qualcomm® Snapdragon® 800 and 801,Qualcomm® Snapdragon® 620 and 615 with 4G LTE Integration and 64-bitcomputing, Apple® A7 processor with 64-bit architecture, Apple® M7motion coprocessors, Samsung® Exynos® series, the Intel® Core™ family ofprocessors, the Intel® Xeon® family of processors, the Intel® Atom™family of processors, the Intel Itanium® family of processors, Intel®Core® i5-4670K and i7-4770K 22 nm Haswell, Intel® Core® i5-3570K 22 nmIvy Bridge, the AMD® FX™ family of processors, AMD® FX-4300, FX-6300,and FX-8350 32 nm Vishera, AMD® Kaveri processors, Texas Instruments®Jacinto C6000™ automotive infotainment processors, Texas Instruments®OMAP™ automotive-grade mobile processors, ARM® Cortex™-M processors,ARM® Cortex-A and ARM926EJ-S™ processors, other industry-equivalentprocessors, and may perform computational functions using any known orfuture-developed standard, instruction set, libraries, and/orarchitecture.

FIG. 20 is a block diagram of a power transfer and tracking system 2000in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The powertransfer and tracking system 2000 may include at least one vehicle 100,one or more power, or charging, sources 2008A-D, and a power managementtracking server 2012 communicatively connected via a communicationnetwork 2004. The server 2012 may monitor charging and/or power transfertransactions for a vehicle 100. For instance, the server 2012 maydetermine a source of a charge provided to the vehicle 100, an amount ofcharge provided to the vehicle 100 from the source, a cost or rateassociated with the transfer of power/energy, etc., and/or combinationsthereof. In some embodiments, the server 2012 may be located remotelyand/or locally to a vehicle 100.

As shown in FIG. 20, the vehicle 100 may be configured to receive power(e.g., in the form of charging energy, etc.) from one or more powersources 2008A-D. Each power source 2008A-D may be associated with aparticular owner or controlling entity. While at least some of thesepower sources 2008A-D may be owned and/or controlled by a user of thevehicle 100 (e.g., a home charging system, another vehicle owned by theuser, etc.), it is anticipated that the vehicle 100 may receive a chargefrom one or more power sources 2008A-D that are owned and/or controlledby an entity or other user different from the user of the vehicle 100.

By way of example, the first power source 2008A may correspond to amobile power source such as another vehicle (e.g., car, truck, train,etc.), a moving charging system, and/or some other system configured toprovide power while the system is moving. Examples of mobile and/ormoving power sources may include, but are in no way limited to, theemergency charging vehicle system 270, the aerial vehicle chargingsystem 280, the moving charging area 520C, etc., described inconjunction with FIGS. 2, 5, 10, and 11. As provided above, the firstpower source 2008A may be associated with one or more owners orcontrolling entities. In some embodiments, the owners/entities describedin conjunction with the one or more sources 2008A-D may include anowner, an operator, an organization, a group, and/or individual that isresponsible for payment (e.g., the payer, etc.) for the power providedby and/or consumed by the power source 2008A-D. For example, the firstpower source 2008A may be part of a mobile charging fleet that providespower to vehicles requiring or requesting charge. The mobile chargingfleet entity may be the controlling entity for the power provided by oneor more mobile power sources in the fleet. As another example, the firstpower source 2008A may be a vehicle belonging to an individual. Inaccordance with at least some embodiments, the individual may allow, orauthorize, the vehicle to provide charging power to one or more vehicles100 in the system 2000. This authorization may be based on particularcharging transaction information, such as, the receiving vehicleinformation, time of day, available source vehicle power, negotiatedamounts, travel time, emergency context, etc., and/or combinationsthereof.

In some embodiments, a vehicle 100 may be traveling along a path andreceive charge from one or more power sources 2008A-D during the routetraveled. For instance, the vehicle 100 may be traveling along a highwaywhere multiple first power sources 2008A are entering and exiting thehighway. First power sources 2008A (e.g., mobile power source vehicles)that are in proximity to the vehicle 100 can provide power to thevehicle 100 for a period of time, such as, a time the power source 2008Ais traveling in proximity to the vehicle 100, a time until the vehicle100 has been charged, a time agreed to in a pre-charge negotiation, atime until the power source 2008A is no longer capable of providingcharging power, etc. Continuing the example above, the vehicle 100traveling along the route may not be completely charged when a chargingfirst power source 2008A providing charging power to the vehicle 100 mayneed to deviate from the route (e.g., change direction, speed, laneetc.). In this case, the charging role may be shifted or transferredfrom the first power source 2008A to another available charging source2008A-D (e.g., another mobile power source traveling in proximity to thevehicle, etc.).

In some embodiments, the second power source 2008B may be associatedwith an individual. For example, the second power source 2008B maycorrespond to a charging station or other charging system that is astandalone unit operated, owned, or otherwise controlled by theindividual. In some cases, the charging station may be a personalcharging station or system.

The third power source 2008C may be associated with a company,enterprise, organization, or other group. The group may correspond to anelectric company, a business, a public utility company, and/or the like.The third power source 2008C may provide charge to vehicles 100 of thebusiness or those vehicles engaging in commerce with the business. Inany event, one or more vehicles 100 may receive a charge from the thirdpower source 2008C based on a contractual arrangement between an owneror operator of the vehicle 100 and the group in control of the thirdpower source 2008C.

The fourth power source 2008D may be associated with a home or personaldistribution power system. In some cases, the fourth power source 2008Dmay provide power via one or more components associated with a home. Forexample, the power providing components may be built into a portion of ahome, building, driveway, lot, etc. The power providing components mayprovide power wirelessly (e.g., induction, non-contact coupling, etc.)and/or directly (e.g., via direct coupling, plug-and-receptacle, contactcoupling, etc.).

It is an aspect of the present disclosure that at least one power source2008A-D may communicate with the vehicle 100 and/or a power trackingserver 2012. Among other things, these communications may be configuredto organize a charge transaction between the power source 2008A-D andthe vehicle 100. In some embodiments, the communications may be madewirelessly across a communication network 2004.

In accordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure,the communication network 2004 may comprise any type of knowncommunication medium or collection of communication media and may useany type of protocols to transport messages between endpoints. Thecommunication network 2004 may include wired and/or wirelesscommunication technologies. The Internet is an example of thecommunication network 2004 that constitutes an Internet Protocol (IP)network consisting of many computers, computing networks, and othercommunication devices located all over the world, which are connectedthrough many telephone systems and other means. Other examples of thecommunication network 2004 include, without limitation, a standard PlainOld Telephone System (POTS), an Integrated Services Digital Network(ISDN), the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a Local AreaNetwork (LAN), a Wide Area Network (WAN), a Voice over Internet Protocol(VoIP) network, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) network, a cellularnetwork, and any other type of packet-switched or circuit-switchednetwork known in the art. In addition, it can be appreciated that thecommunication network 2004 need not be limited to any one network type,and instead may be comprised of a number of different networks and/ornetwork types. The communication network 2004 may comprise a number ofdifferent communication media such as coaxial cable, copper cable/wire,fiber-optic cable, antennas for transmitting/receiving wirelessmessages, and combinations thereof.

The power tracking server 2012 may include a processor, a memory, andone or more inputs/outputs. The memory of the power tracking server 2012may be used in connection with the execution of application programmingor instructions by the processor, and for the temporary or long termstorage of program instructions and/or data. The instructions may beconfigured in the form of a tracking application 2016 executed by theprocessor of the server 2012. As examples, the memory may comprise RAM,DRAM, SDRAM, or other solid state memory. The power tracking server 2012may include hardware and/or software resources that, among other things,provides the ability to facilitate, track, and/or monitor a chargingtransaction between a charging source 2008A-D and a vehicle 100. Asprovided above, the power tracking server 2012 may be a part of thevehicle 100 and/or may be remotely located from the vehicle 100 across acommunication network 2004.

In some embodiments, the power tracking server 2012 may receivecommunications from a power source 2008A-D prior to, during, and afterproviding a charge to a vehicle 100. For instance, prior to establishinga charging transaction, the power tracking server 2012 may receivedetails about the power source 2008A-D. These details may include, butare in no way limited to, a power source identification, thecapabilities of a power source 2008A-D, and the rate for providing acharge to a vehicle 100. In exchange, the power tracking server 2012 maygenerate a message including select information and details (e.g.,terms, etc.) for presentation to a display associated with the vehicle100. The message may include one or more options for a user of thevehicle 100 to accept the terms of the proposed charging transaction oralter one or more terms of the transaction. Alteration may include theuser of the vehicle 100, or the vehicle 100 automatically, providing acounteroffer or alternative to the proposed charging transaction inresponse to the message. This response message may be sent to the powertracking server 2012 and the server 2012 may relay or send the messageto the power source 2008A-D for acceptance, denial, and/or alteration.As can be appreciated, these messages may be sent back and forth betweenthe power source 2008A-D and the vehicle 100 (e.g., by way of the powertracking server 2012) until a negotiated charging transaction agreementis reached or the transaction is canceled.

Additionally or alternatively, the power tracking server 2012 maycommunicate with a tracking data memory 2020. The tracking data memory2020 may comprise a solid state memory or devices. The tracking datamemory 2020 may comprise a hard disk drive or other random accessmemory. In some embodiments, the tracking data memory may storeinformation associated with a charging transaction including, but in noway limited to, charging transaction data, user preferences, accountinformation, historical charging transaction data, power source type,power source identification, owners, transfer types, transfer amounts,transfer times, etc., and/or combinations thereof.

FIGS. 21A-21C show block diagrams of various power transfer andcommunication exchanges in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure. Each figure includes a power source 2108 that is configuredto provide a charge to a receiving vehicle 100. In FIG. 21A, the powersource 2108 may communicate with a vehicle 100 or a power trackingserver 2012 of the vehicle 100 via a direct communication 2110. Thisdirect communication embodiment may correspond to a directcommunications connection between the power source 2108 and the vehicle100. Direct communications connections may include any type of physical(e.g., plug-and-receptacle, cable connection, etc., and/or other directelectrical contact connection between the power source 2108 and thevehicle 100) and/or nonphysical electrical interconnection (e.g., radiofrequency, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth®, or other nonphysical connection.). Thecommunications provided via the direct communication may provide powersource 2108 details, transaction details, and/or other charging messages(e.g., including broadcast messages, specific end-to-end messages,etc.).

In addition to communications, the power source 2108 may providecharging power to the vehicle 100 via a power connection 2114. The powerconnection 2114 may be direct (e.g., via physical contact electricalinterconnection, etc.) or indirect (e.g., via noncontact electricalinterconnection, induction, etc.). In some embodiments, the power source2108 may be connected to the vehicle 100 via an electrical cable, orumbilical, configured to contain electrical and communications lines.These lines may be separate from one another in the electrical cable.

In FIG. 21B, the power source 2108 may provide power as well ascommunications across a single, or unified, electrical interconnection2118. This single electrical interconnection 2118 may be configured as acharging connection. In some embodiments, the charging connection mayprovide power to a vehicle having a particular power transmissioncharacteristic. For instance, during a normal power transfer, the powersource 2108 may provide power to a vehicle 100 in accordance with adefined waveform (e.g., sinusoidal, square wave, clipped waves, smoothedor reduced ripple waves, etc.). The power source 2108 may providecommunications during the power transfer by increasing and/or decreasingthe power emitted over time and altering the defined waveform to matchcommunications signal patterns. In one embodiment, the charging powersource 2108 may utilize pulse-width modulation (PWM), or pulse-durationmodulation (PDM) techniques to encode a message or communication into apulsing charge signal. Similar to the communications described above,the communications signal patterns may provide power source 2108details, transaction details, and/or other charging messages (e.g.,including broadcast messages, specific end-to-end messages, etc.).

In FIG. 21C, the communications may be exchanged between the powersource 2108 and the vehicle 100 by way of a communication network 2004,and the power may be transferred from the power source 2108 to thevehicle 100 via a separate power connection 2122. The communications maybe sent via one or more wireless channels 2120 across the communicationnetwork 2004 to the vehicle 100. These communications may provide powersource 2108 details, transaction details, and/or other charging messages(e.g., including broadcast messages, specific end-to-end messages,etc.). Similar to the other power connections described above, the powerconnection 2122 shown in FIG. 21C may be direct (e.g., via physicalcontact electrical interconnection, etc.) or indirect (e.g., vianoncontact electrical interconnection, induction, etc.). In someembodiments, the power source 2108 may be connected to the vehicle 100via an electrical cable.

FIG. 22 is a diagram of an embodiment of a data structure 2200 forstoring information about a power transfer and tracking exchange inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. The datastructure 2200 may be manipulated, changed, and/or otherwise altered viaon or more components of the electrical system 1500 as described inconjunction with FIG. 15. For example, the billing and cost control unit1512 may provide the billing information for billing an owner, or aresponsible operator, of the vehicle 100. In some embodiments, theinformation stored in the data structure 2200 may correspond to chargingtransaction data. The charging transaction data may be split into powersource data 2202 and vehicle data 2226. While the power source data 2202and the vehicle data 2226 may be stored together in a single datastructure and/or storage location, it should be appreciated that otherembodiments should not be so limited. For instance, the power sourcedata 2202 may be contained in a data structure that is separate andapart from another data structure including the vehicle data 2226. Insome cases, these separate data structures may be stored in separatedifferent locations. In any event, the power tracking server 2012 mayreceive data structures (e.g., separate data structures, etc.) from oneor more sources (e.g., vehicle 100, power source 2108, etc.) anddetermine to extract pertinent transaction data and/or combine the datafor storage in a new tracked transaction data structure. The powersource data 2202 may include a power source ID field 2204, a powersource type field 2208, a source owner field 2212, a transfer rate field2216, a transfer type field 2220, and a source transfer transactioninformation field 2224, to name a few. The vehicle data 2226 may includea vehicle ID field 2228, a vehicle power information field 2232, avehicle user/owner field 2236, a transfer time field 2240, a vehicletype field 2244, and a vehicle transaction information field 2248. Thedata structure 2200 may include additional data fields 2252 or fewerdata fields than shown for tracking and storage in memory. The datastructure 2200 may be stored by the power tracking server 2012, forinstance, in the tracking data memory 2020.

The power source ID field 2204 may include information corresponding toan identification of a power source. The identification may be a uniquecharacter string, hardware identification, billing number, or otheridentifier of the power source. In some embodiments, the power source IDfield 2204 may be used to uniquely identify a power source for chargingtransactions, payments, and/or other tracking functions. For example,the power source ID field 2204 may be used by the power tracking server2012 to monitor and track charges and/or route payments from a vehicleowner/user to the power source owner/operator, or vice versa (e.g.,refunds, discounts, etc.).

The power source type field 2208 may include information identifyingpower output characteristics of a power source. Examples of power outputcharacteristics may include, but are in no way limited to, current type(e.g., AC, DC, etc.), voltage, power output (e.g., watts, kilowatts,etc.), etc., and/or combinations thereof. In some cases, the powersource type field 2208 may identify whether the power source isconfigured to provide a type of charge for a particular energy storagemedium (e.g., battery, capacitor, or other energy storage system).Additionally or alternatively, the power source type field 2208 mayinclude information corresponding to a type of power provided by thepower source. For example, the power source type field 2208 may describean origin of the power provided to the power source. Continuing thisexample, the power source type field 2208 may serve to communicatewhether the origin of the power comes from wind energy, solar energy,geothermal energy, hydroelectric energy, ocean energy and/or otherhydropower energy, hydrogen energy, biomass energy, coal energy, nuclearenergy, etc. This information may be communicated to a user of a vehicle100 via a display device, smartphone, vehicle display device, etc. Amongother things, the user of the vehicle 100 may wish to support aparticular energy type or group of energy types and only agree toreceive charge from those types. For example, a coal miner may wish toonly receive charge from coal energy power sources, while anenvironmentalist may wish to only receive charge from wind, solar,and/or geothermal energy power sources. In any event, a user may bepresented with options (e.g., via a GUI displayed to a display device,etc.) listing available power sources according to type. These optionsmay be shown graphically on a map and may display a proximity and/orlocation (e.g., relative distance to the vehicle 100, etc.) of eachpower source listed with details about the power source (e.g., powersource ID, power source type, source owner, estimated charging amounts,etc.).

The source owner data field 2212 may include information about an owneror controlling entity of a power source. The owner data field 2212 maygenerally describe whether the owner or controlling entity is a publicentity, private entity, individual, non-profit organization, etc. Insome embodiments, the owner data field 2212 may include specificinformation about the owner or controlling entity including, but in noway limited to, name, picture, rating, reliability, social networkinglink, biography, established date, and/or other owner information. Inany event, the specific and/or general information may be presented to auser (e.g., via a display device, etc.) before, during, or after acharging transaction is made. By way of example, a power source may beowned by an individual named John Smith. John may be connected to one ormore social networking and/or group review sites. Information from thesesites may be associated with the power source and presented to a userfor review before the user agrees to a transaction. Continuing thisexample, in his group review site, John and/or John's power source mayhave been rated by various users who are socially connected to him. Asocial connection may exist based on past transactions and/or friendshiprelationships. In any event, John may have a rating of four out of fivestars. Reviews may be presented that state reasons for the rating andwhether the rating applies to John, John's power source, and/orcombinations thereof.

The transfer rate data field 2216 may include information correspondingto typical charge times associated with the power source. This field2216 may include identification of whether the transfer rate qualifiesas a fast charge, a slow charge, a trickle charge, etc. The informationmay include specific timing or ranges of timing for each charge type. Ascan be appreciated, charge times may be affected by one or moreelectrical energy transfer or flow characteristics. For instance, thecharge time may be based at least partially on system impedance,conductor materials used, cable cross-section, cable length, cableand/or system damage, charging demand, power source power output, etc.In some embodiments, the charge time may change based on one or morechanges to the energy transfer or flow characteristics of the powersource. Other factors affecting transfer rate may include environmentaltemperature (e.g., around or outside of the power source), power sourcesystem temperature, and/or temperature of the receiving vehicle (e.g.,battery, capacitor, etc., and/or other energy storage medium), noise inoutput, output current, and the like. In some cases, this informationmay be presented to a user for review before the user agrees to atransaction. For example, a user who parks a vehicle 100 overnight mayagree to a slow or trickle charge. On the other hand, a user who istraveling across country may not have time to wait for slow charging(e.g., overnight, greater than one hour, etc.) and may only acceptcharge from fast charging power sources (e.g., 90-second charge or less,one-hour charging or less, or variations thereof).

The transfer type field 2220 may include information identifying thetype of power transfer provided by a power source. In general, powertransfer types may include direct contact power transfer and indirect,or wireless, power transfer types. Direct contact may include a physicalinterconnection between the power source and a vehicle 100. Indirectpower transfer types may not require a physical interconnection betweenthe power source and the vehicle 100. Examples of indirect powertransfer types may include, but are in no way limited to,electromagnetic radiation, inductive coupling, capacitive coupling,microwave transfer, etc., and/or combinations thereof.

The source transfer transaction information field 2224 may includeinformation corresponding to the details of a charging transaction.These details may include charging costs, negotiated rates, source owneraccount name(s), source owner account address(es), routing numbers,usernames, passwords, authentication tokens, and/or other paymentaccount information. Additionally or alternatively, the source transfertransaction information field 2224 may include details regarding acharging rendered including, but not limited to, power provided, time tocharge, time of charge, charging transaction amounts, and/or other datathat may be linked to a vehicle 100 receiving a charge. Among otherthings, the information in the source transfer transaction informationfield 2224 may be used to record, track, and/or process paymentssurrounding a charging transaction between a power source and a vehicle100. In some embodiments, the vehicle ID field 2228 may include billingand cost information sent or received from the billing and cost controlunit 1512 described in conjunction with FIG. 15.

The vehicle ID field 2228 may include information corresponding to anidentification of a vehicle 100. This identification may be a uniquecharacter string, hardware identification, billing number, name, orother identifier of the vehicle 100. In some embodiments, the vehicle IDfield 2228 may be used to uniquely identify a vehicle for chargingtransactions, payments, and/or other tracking functions. For example,the vehicle ID field 2228 may be used by the power tracking server 2012to monitor and track charges and/or route payments from a vehicleowner/user to the power source owner/operator, or vice versa.

The vehicle power information field 2232 may include informationidentifying charging and/or power input characteristics of a vehicle100. Examples of power input characteristics may include, but are in noway limited to, current type (e.g., AC, DC, etc.), voltage, power output(e.g., watts, kilowatts, etc.), etc., and/or combinations thereof. Insome cases, the vehicle power information field 2232 may identifywhether the vehicle is configured to receive a type of charge for aparticular energy storage medium (e.g., battery, capacitor, or otherenergy storage system).

The vehicle user/owner field 2236 may include information about an owneror controlling entity/operator of a vehicle 100. The vehicle user/ownerfield 2236 may include specific information about the owner, operator,or controlling entity including, but in no way limited to, name,picture, rating, reliability, social networking link, biography, and/orother owner information. In some embodiments, the user/owner of thevehicle 100 may correspond to an entity (e.g., individual, group,organization, etc.) that is responsible for payment of chargingtransaction and/or other transactions for the vehicle 100. For example,Jane Doe may be a user/owner who is associated with a particularvehicle. When engaging in transactions using the vehicle, Jane Doe maybe charged or billed for the transactions. In some embodiments, thispayment responsibility may be maintained with the vehicle or shiftedbased on an identification of the user currently operating the vehicle.For instance, if a subordinate or family member is identified by thevehicle as driving or otherwise operating the vehicle, the paymentresponsibility may be shifted to the identified subordinate or familymember.

The transfer time data field 2240 may include data corresponding to anamount of time that is associated with a power transfer or charge. Theamount of time may be the time that is allotted to the charge for thevehicle. This allotted time may be set by preference (e.g., by a user ofthe vehicle, administrator, organization, etc.), determined based on atrip itinerary, set by a scheduled meeting or appointment, combinationsthereof, and the like. In some cases, the transfer time in the transfertime data field 2240 may be communicated to a power source, powertracking server 2012, or other entity in determining whether a powersource is capable of providing the power transfer or charge in theallotted transfer time. In the event that a particular power source isnot capable of providing the power according to the transfer time, thatpower source may be removed from available options for charging (e.g.,removed from a list displayed to a display device, etc.) and/or thecharging transaction may be terminated.

The vehicle type data field 2244 may include information about themanufacturer, make, style, model, vehicle identification number (VIN),and other information associated with the type of vehicle 100. Thisinformation may be stored to determine vehicle 100 capabilities, energystorage medium types, capacity, maintenance issues, charging issues,and/or other information that may be useful in determining a transactionrequirement for the vehicle 100. By way of example, a full-electrictruck developed by XYZ motor company may be capable of receiving agreater amount of charge than a hybrid-electric compact car manufacturedby ABC corporation. In this instance, the power source may be includedor excluded from a list or display of available power sources based onthe determined charge requirement and power source capabilities.Additionally or alternatively, the power source may report that, due inpart to the determined vehicle requirements, the power source may onlybe capable of providing a partial charge.

The vehicle transaction information field 2248 may include informationcorresponding to the details of a charging transaction for a vehicle100. These details may include charging costs, negotiated rates, vehicleowner account name(s), vehicle owner account address(es), routingnumbers, usernames, passwords, authentication tokens, and/or othervehicle payment account information. Additionally or alternatively, thevehicle transaction information field 2248 may include details regardinga charging received from a power source including, but not limited to,power received, time to charge the vehicle 100, time of the vehicle 100charging (e.g., time of day, etc.), charging transaction amounts, and/orother data that may be linked to a power source providing a charge.Among other things, the information in the vehicle transactioninformation field 2248 may be used to record, track, and/or processpayments surrounding a charging transaction between a power source and avehicle 100. In some embodiments, at least some of the data from thevehicle transaction information field 2248 may be combined with at leastsome of the data from the source transfer transaction information datafield 2224, or vice versa. This combined data may fully define thefinancial and/or payment details surrounding a charging transaction.

FIG. 23 is a flow chart depicting a method 2300 of tracking powertransfer and payment in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure. While a general order for the steps of the method 2300 isshown in FIG. 23, the method 2300 can include more or fewer steps or canarrange the order of the steps differently than those shown in FIG. 23.Generally, the method 2300 starts with a start operation 2304 and endswith an end operation 2328. The method 2300 can be executed as a set ofcomputer-executable instructions executed by a computer system andencoded or stored on a computer readable medium. Hereinafter, the method2300 shall be explained with reference to the systems, components, datastructures, user interfaces, environments, software, etc. described inconjunction with FIGS. 1-22.

The method 2300 begins at step 2304 and may optionally proceed by abroadcasting a power transfer availability and/or capability of a powersource (step 2306). The broadcast signal may be sent by a power sourceor a communication module associated with a power tracking server 2012.In some embodiments, the power source may be communicatively connectedwith the power tracking server 2012 (e.g., via a communication network2004, etc.). In this case, the power source may report an availabilityor state associated with the power source. In turn, the power trackingserver 2012 may communicate this availability or state to a vehicle 100in the system 2000. In one embodiment, the signal may be sent to avehicle 100 in proximity, or scheduled to be in proximity (e.g., via aplanned route, etc.), to the power source.

Next, the method 2300 may proceed when a vehicle power transfer orcharge request is received (step 2308). In some embodiments, the requestmay be received by the power tracking server 2012 and/or a power source.The charge request may be sent by a vehicle 100 in response to a userinput or based on a determined level of charge associated with thevehicle 100. For example, a vehicle 100 may automatically determine thata user is traveling along a route (e.g., a planned route, a repeat orhabit route, a restricted route (e.g., a route with no exits orwaypoints along a specific distance, etc.) and/or some route previouslytraveled by the user of the vehicle 100 and/or some other user. Inresponse to determining that the user is traveling along the specificroute, the vehicle 100 and/or the power tracking server 2012 maydetermine that a charge of the vehicle 100 may be necessary. Thisdetermination may be based on a rate of travel, a distance traveled, alength of the route, state of charge associated with the vehicle energystorage system (e.g., batteries, capacitors, etc.), and/or otherfactors.

The method 2300 continues by the power source sending an informationmessage including the power source ID 2204 (step 2312). Depending on thecommunication arrangement, the information message may be sent directlyto a vehicle 100 and/or indirectly to a vehicle 100 via a communicationnetwork 2004. In some embodiments, the information message may includeother power source data 2202, as described in conjunction with FIG. 22.Among other things, this information may be configured for presentationto a display device associated with the user of the vehicle 100 and/orthe vehicle 100.

The information message sent to the vehicle 100 may include rateinformation and/or payment information offered for the chargingtransaction. In response to receiving this information, the vehicle 100may provide an acceptance or non-acceptance (e.g., rejection or denial,etc.) of the power transfer or charge offer based on the transactionparticulars (e.g., cost, rate of charge, etc.)(step 2316). Theacceptance may be provided automatically, via the vehicle 100 and/orpower tracking server 2012. An automatic acceptance may be made incertain situations (e.g., emergency situations, etc.), if rates andcharging particulars of the power source message match predefinedparticulars stored in a memory of the vehicle 100 and/or in trackingdata memory 2020.

If the offer is not accepted in step 2316, the method 2300 may proceedby determining whether a negotiation message is received from the userand/or the vehicle 100 (step 2332). The negotiation message may includean alteration to at least one of the charging transaction particularsprovided by the power source. The negotiation message may be forwardedto the power source for approval, denial, and/or counter-offer. In theevent that no negotiation message is received, the method 2300 may endat step 2328.

In the event that the offer is accepted in step 2316, the method 2300may proceed by approving the charging transaction (step 2320). Approvalmay include verifying an authenticity of the power source offer. In someembodiments, the payment method and particulars provided by the vehicle100 may be verified. In any event, once the charging transaction isapproved, the method 2300 may proceed by the power source transferringpower (e.g., in the form of a charge, etc.) to the vehicle 100 (step2320). The transfer of power may be provided by any of the powertransfer methods described above.

The method 2300 may continue by sending the details of the powertransfer to the power tracking server 2012 (step 2324). The details mayinclude at least some of the data included in the data structure 2200described in conjunction with FIG. 22. In some cases, the details mayinclude whether the charge was completed, interrupted, or otherwiseterminated. An interrupted charge may be subject to reduced rates (e.g.,based on actual energy transferred, etc.). In some embodiments, thepower transfer details may be associated with a user account and storedin a memory location associated with the user. These details may be usedto track power consumption of a user, vehicle, or group of users andvehicles. In one embodiment, the tracked power consumption may be usedby the power tracking server 2012 to anticipate future charging times,preferences, or locations. In some embodiments, the tracked powerconsumption may be used by the power tracking server 2012 to determinedriving habits, demand, etc. The method 2300 ends at step 2328.

In some embodiments, at least one of the charging systems 250, 254, 258,270, 280 and/or devices described herein may communicate with thevehicle 100, and/or vice versa, via a charging communication protocol.The charging communication protocol may leverage one or morecommunication devices and/or systems described herein (e.g., thecommunications subsystem 1900, and/or the components thereof, etc.) orutilize other systems of the vehicle 100 that are specific to chargingcommunications. In some embodiments, the charging communication protocolmay be separate and apart from other communication protocols used by thevarious systems of the vehicle 100. In any event, the devices used forthe charging communications may be interconnected via one or morelinks/busses 5, as described in conjunction with FIG. 19A. For example,the various chargers and charging arrangements, especially movingcharging systems, as described herein may require specificcommunications or messages to be exchanged to, among other things,determine billing details, orientation of a vehicle 100 (e.g., relativeto charging system, etc.), alignment of the vehicle 100 and/or chargingelement (e.g., prior to and/or during a charging session, etc.), and/orother charging specific details for a vehicle 100 in a chargingarrangement or receiving a charge. The present disclosure describes acharging communication protocol for these messages. It is an aspect ofthe present disclosure that the charging communication protocol canhandle the unique charging requirements of various charging arrangementsand systems.

FIG. 24 is a diagram depicting a set of communication flows 2400 inaccordance with at least some embodiments of the present disclosure. Thecommunication flows 2400 may describe a series of communications betweena vehicle 100 and a charging system 2440. The charging system 2440 maycorrespond to any of the charging systems 250, 254, 258, 270, 280described herein. The charging system 2440 may be a computing device asdescribed in conjunction with FIGS. 19B-C. For instance, the chargingsystem 2440 may include a processor, communications module, and memory.In some embodiments, the vehicle 100, or one or more components thereof(e.g., communications subsystems 1900, etc.) may communicate with thecharging system 2440. In any event, the communications regarding acharge may initiate from the vehicle 100.

In any event, the communications may begin when a vehicle 100 requests acharge from a charging station 2440 in step S2401. The request may bemade in response to the vehicle 100 determining that a charge of one ormore power storage systems (e.g., batteries, capacitors, etc.) requiresenergy or charging. The request S2401 may include a query messageconfigured to illicit a response from at least one available chargingstation 2440. The query message S2401 may include charging specifics forthe vehicle 100 as provided herein. In response to receiving the querymessage, the charging station 2440 may respond with an acknowledgementmessage S2402. The acknowledgement message S2402 may include informationto the vehicle 100 that the charging station 2440 has received the queryand may be capable of providing a charge to the vehicle 100.

The vehicle 100 may provide an enrollment message S2403 to the chargingsystem 2440. The enrollment message S2403 may include vehicle 100information, billing information, and/or other information configured toenroll the vehicle 100 for charging with the charging system 2440. Insome cases, the enrollment message S2403 may include vehicleidentification, user identification, owner identification, billinginformation, and/or other enrollment and/or billing information. In oneembodiment, the charging system 2440 may verify this information with abilling system 2444 via an enrollment and/or billing verificationrequest message S2404 sent from the charging system 2440 to a billingsystem 2444. The verification request message S2404 may include ausername, password, and/or an account number associated with aresponsible user, or owner, of the vehicle 100. In one embodiment, thebilling system may verify the enrollment information and respond with averification response message S2405. The verification response messageS2405 may include an authorization amount, a limit, and/or some otherenrollment information for the charging system 2440. Acknowledgement ofthe enrollment and/or verification response message 2405 may becommunicated to the vehicle 100 via the charging system 2440 and anacknowledgement verification message S2406.

Next, the charging system 2440 may determine to provide power orelectrical charging energy to the vehicle 100 at step S2407. Power maybe provided to the vehicle 100 as described in any of the chargingscenarios described above.

In the event that a vehicle 100 is moving while receiving a charge, thevehicle 100 may provide position information to the charging system 2440in the form of a position information message 52408. The positioninformation message 52408 may inform the charging system 2440 of anydeviation from an initial charging location, or expected charginglocation. Upon receiving the position information message 52408, thecharging system 2440 may respond with an acknowledgment message 52409that, among other things, may acknowledge that the position of thevehicle 100 has been received by the charging system 2440.

In some embodiments, the vehicle 100 may provide a charging statusmessage 52410 to the charging system 2440. The charging status message52410 may indicate an amount of charge the vehicle 100 has received, anamount of charge remaining for the vehicle 100, and/or an amount ofcharge until the vehicle 100 is fully charged, etc. The charging system2440 may respond with an acknowledgement message 52411 that acknowledgesthe charging system 2440 has received the charging status message 2410.

Once the charging has reached, or is nearing, completion the vehicle 100may provide an end-of-charge message S2412 to the charging system 2440.The end-of-charge message S2412 may indicate a remaining amount ofcharge to be transferred by the charging system 2440, a chargecompletion amount for the vehicle 100, a time until the vehicle is fullycharged, and/or the like. The charging system 2440 may respond with anacknowledgement message 52413 acknowledging the same.

Upon receiving the end-of-charge message S2412, the charging system 2440may complete the charge for a vehicle 100 and send a finalize chargemessage 52414 to the billing system 2444. The billing system 2444 maythen determine an amount of total charge provided to the vehicle 100 viathe charging system 2440. This amount and final receipt of charge may becommunicated from the billing system 2444 to the charging system 2440via a final charge message 52415. Next, the charging system 2440 maysend an end of transaction message 52416 to the vehicle 100. The end oftransaction message 52416 may signal to the vehicle 100 that thecharging between the vehicle 100 and the charging system 2440 iscomplete. Additionally or alternatively, the end of transaction messagemay provide the final receipt of charge to the vehicle 100 (e.g., forpresentation to a display device of the vehicle 100, etc.). In someembodiments, the message 52416 may signal that the communicationsbetween the charging system 2440 and the vehicle 100 have ended. Thevehicle 100 may terminate the communications in a final goodbye messageS2417 sent to the charging system 2440.

FIG. 25 is a diagram of a charging communications packet or datastructure 2500 in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.The packet 2500 may include a header portion 2502, a payload portion2550, and a footer portion 2560. In some embodiments, the header portion2502 may include a protocol ID field 2504, a length of data field 2508,a destination ID 2512, a source ID 2516, message ID 2520, and more 2524.The payload portion 2550 may include a charge type field 2528, charginglocation(s) field 2532, charging orientation field 2536, alignmentcontrol field 2540, compatibility field 2544, and more 2548. The footerportion 2560 may include a checksum field 2552 and/or other data 2556.

The header portion 2502 may define which protocol is used in thecharging communication between the vehicle 100 and a charging system2440 via a protocol ID field 2504. The protocol ID field 2504 mayidentify a particular protocol to be used in charging the vehicle 100.In some embodiments, the vehicle 100 may use a number of differentprotocols depending on the state of the vehicle 100, communications,and/or available charging systems 2440. In any event, the protocol IDfield 2504 may identify the protocol to be used in exchangingcommunications between the vehicle 100 and the charging system 2440.

The length of data may specify a length or size of the packet 2500. Thislength of data field 2508 may define the appropriate and/or expectedlength of the packet 2500 for charging communications between thevehicle 100 and the charging system 2440.

The destination ID field 2512 may identify a destination for a chargingcommunication message. When sent from a vehicle 100 to a charging system2440, the destination ID field 2512 may include an address for thecharging system 2440. When sent from a charging system 2440 to a vehicle100, the destination ID field 2512 may include an address for thevehicle 100. In any event, the address may be a specific address or ageneral address for a type of destination. For instance, vehicles 100 orcharging systems 2440 may include a general address or portion of anaddress for receiving messages.

The source ID field 2516 may identify a source of a chargingcommunication message. When sent from a vehicle 100 to a charging system2440, the source ID field 2516 may include an address for the vehicle100. When sent from a charging system 2440 to a vehicle 100, the sourceID field 2516 may include an address for the vehicle charging system. Inany event, the address may be a specific address or a general addressfor a type of source. For instance, each vehicle 100 and/or chargingsystem 2440 may include a specific address uniquely identifying thesource of charging messages.

The message ID field 2524 may include an identification of the chargingcommunication message. This identification may include an ordered numberof the message relating to previous and/or subsequent messages sent. Insome embodiments, the message ID may include a unique identification ofeach message in a communication.

The payload portion 2550 may include a charge type field 2528 indicatinga type of charge required. In the event the message and packet 2500 issent from a vehicle 100 to a charging system 2440, the charge type field2528 may include the type of charge the vehicle is capable of receiving.For example, the vehicle 100 may be capable of receiving a staticcharge, moving charge, plug-in charge, inductive charge, etc., and/orcombinations thereof. In some cases, this field 2528 may be reviewed bya charging system 2440 in determining whether the vehicle 100 canreceive a charge from the system 2440.

The charging location(s) field 2532 may include one or more locations ona vehicle 100 that are capable of receiving a charge. These locationsmay include one or more sides of a vehicle 100, a portion of an outsideof the vehicle 100, or other area of the vehicle 100 that is configuredto interface with a charging system 2440. For instance, a vehicle 100may include an inductive charging area disposed on an undercarriage ofthe vehicle 100 in the center of the vehicle 100 body. This informationmay be provided in the packet 2500 to aid the charging system 2440 indetermining whether a charge can be provided at this location.

In some embodiments, the packet 2500 may include a charging orientationfield 2536 identifying an orientation of the vehicle 100 and/or chargerof the charging system 2440 to enable a charge. This chargingorientation may include a relative orientation of the vehicle 100 and/orcharging area to a portion of the charging system 2440. The orientationmay require vehicle 100 to maintain a position in a specific area (e.g.,of the roadway, parking area, etc.) while receiving a charge from thecharging system 2440.

The packet 2500 may include an alignment control field 2540. Thealignment control field 2540 may comprise information that determineswhether a charging system 2440 or a vehicle 100 controls an alignment ofthe vehicle 100 to the charging system 2440 during a charge. In somecases, this alignment may change depending on the charging type, whetherthe vehicle is moving or static, and/or whether the vehicle 100 is inautonomous or manual operation mode. In some embodiments, the chargingsystem 2440 may control an alignment of a vehicle 100 while the vehicle100 is receiving a charge (e.g., while the vehicle is in a chargingsystem zone receiving charge, etc.).

The compatibility field 2544 may correspond to information forcompatibility between one or more charging systems 2440 and vehicles100. For example, a first charging system may only be compatible with aselect group of vehicles while a second charging system may becompatible with an expanded group of vehicles. In any event, thecompatibility field 2544 may include information for use in making acompatibility determination for charging.

The checksum field 2552 may comprise information to verify and/or checkthe integrity of a received packet 2500. The checksum field 2552 may beused by a charging system 2440 and/or receiving device to determinewhether the packet 2500 is valid, whole, or incomplete, etc.

FIG. 26 is a flow chart depicting a method 2600 of providing chargebased on a charging communication received at a charging system 2440 inaccordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. While a generalorder for the steps of the method 2600 is shown in FIG. 26, the method2600 can include more or fewer steps or can arrange the order of thesteps differently than those shown in FIG. 26. Generally, the method2600 starts with a start operation 2604 and ends with an end operation2648. The method 2600 can be executed as a set of computer-executableinstructions executed by a computer system and encoded or stored on acomputer readable medium. Hereinafter, the method 2600 shall beexplained with reference to the systems, components, data structures,user interfaces, environments, software, etc. described in conjunctionwith FIGS. 1-25.

The method 2600 begins at step 2604 and proceeds when a charge requestmessage is received from a vehicle 100 (step 2608). The charge requestmessage may include information corresponding to the vehicle 100 makingthe request, a charge type requested, and/or any other data described inconjunction with FIG. 25 above.

Next, the charging system 2400 may determine the charge particulars forthe vehicle 100 based on the charge request received (step 2612). Asprovided above, the charge particulars may include the charge types,charging locations, charging orientations, alignment controls,compatibilities, and/or more associated with a vehicle 100. The chargingparticulars may include information transmitted in a request messagesent from the vehicle 100 to a charging system 2440 (e.g., in the formor one or more packets 2500, etc.).

Once the communications are established between the vehicle 100 and thecharging system 2440, the method 2600 continues by providing a charge tothe vehicle 100 based on the determined particulars (step 2616).Providing charge may include any transfer of energy to the vehicle 100from the charging system 2440 as described above. The charge may beprovided via direct coupling, indirect coupling, and/or combinationsthereof. In some embodiments, the method 2600 may provide charge fromthe charging system 2440 to the vehicle 100 in a particular orientationas defined in the charge particulars of step 2612.

Next, the method 2600 may determine whether any change to theorientation of the vehicle 100 has occurred (step 2620). As can beappreciated, as a vehicle 100 travels during a moving charge, theorientation of the vehicle 100 and/or the charging location for avehicle 100 may change relative to a charging system 2440. In the eventa change in orientation is detected, the method 2600 may determinewhether the change in orientation is within an acceptable threshold(step 2624). The threshold may be predefined and allow for a variationin orientation alignment between the vehicle 100 and a charging system2440. The acceptable threshold allows charging of the vehicle 100although the vehicle may not be perfectly oriented with the chargingsystem 2440.

In the event that the change in orientation is not within the threshold,the method 2600 may determine whether to adjust an orientation of thecharging device or vehicle 100 (step 2632). If the vehicle 100 has movedoutside of an acceptable adjustment threshold, the method 2600 maydetermine to terminate any providing of charge (step 2636). Forinstance, when a vehicle 100 leaves a charging area, there may be noability to adjust the charging orientation. However, if the change iswithin a threshold, the method 2600 may determine to adjust anorientation of the charging device (step 2640). This adjustment mayinclude moving a charging component of the charging system 2440.Additionally or alternatively, the adjustment may include repositioningthe vehicle 100 relative to the charging system 2440.

The method 2600 proceeds by determining whether the charging of thevehicle 100 is complete or if an end-of-charge message is received (step2628). If not, the vehicle 100 continues to charge via the chargingsystem 2440. However, if the message is received, the charging system2440 may complete the billing for the charging time and/or amount ofcharge transferred to the vehicle 100 via the charging system 2440 (step2644). The method 2600 ends at step 2648.

FIG. 27 is a flow chart depicting a method 2700 of authorizing a chargefor a particular time in accordance with embodiments of the presentdisclosure. While a general order for the steps of the method 2700 isshown in FIG. 27, the method 2700 can include more or fewer steps or canarrange the order of the steps differently than those shown in FIG. 27.Generally, the method 2700 starts with a start operation (e.g., step2608 of FIG. 26) and ends with an end operation (e.g., step 2616 of FIG.26). The method 2700 can be executed as a set of computer-executableinstructions executed by a computer system and encoded or stored on acomputer readable medium. Hereinafter, the method 2700 shall beexplained with reference to the systems, components, data structures,user interfaces, environments, software, etc. described in conjunctionwith FIGS. 1-26.

In some embodiments, the method 2700 may determine whether an adequateamount of charge can be provided to a vehicle 100 during a time thevehicle 100 is in a charging zone. If the vehicle 100 cannot beadequately charged (e.g., more than 1%, etc.), the method 2700 maydetermine to prevent authorizing charging of the vehicle 100. Amongother things, this method 2700 may prevent minimal charging to thevehicle 100 while preventing repetitive billing to an account for thevehicle 100 with little to no benefit.

The method 2700 may begin after step 2608 of FIG. 26 and/or in responseto determining the charge particulars for a vehicle. Next, the method2700 may proceed by determining a destination of the vehicle 100. Thedestination may be programmed into a navigation application of thevehicle 100, determined by a travel path of the vehicle 100, and/orotherwise entered into a memory of the vehicle 100. In any event, thecharging system 2440 may refer to the destination of the vehicle travelin step 2704.

Next, the method 2700 determines the current location of the vehicle 100(step 2708). The current location may be based on a GPS or currentposition of the vehicle 100 along a trip or route. Similar to thedestination, the current location of the vehicle 100 may be stored in anavigation application memory for the vehicle 100. Using the currentlocation of the vehicle 100 and the destination for the vehicle 100, thecharging system 2440 may determine one or more appropriate chargers forthe vehicle 100.

The method 2700 may proceed by determining a time the vehicle 100 is inone or more of the charging system zones (step 2712). The chargingsystem zone may correspond to an area that the charging system 2440 maybe capable of providing a charge to the vehicle 100. The time may bebased on a current speed of the vehicle 100, a location of the vehicle100 along a route, a destination for the vehicle, etc., and/orcombinations thereof.

The method 2700 continues by determining whether the charge can beprovided to the vehicle 100 via the charging system 2440 in the time thevehicle 100 is in the charging system zone (step 2716). In the eventthat the charge cannot be provided to the vehicle 100 in the time thevehicle 100 is in the charging system zone, the method 2700 may proceedby contacting and/or determining any available alternate chargingsystems for the vehicle 100 along the route for the vehicle 100 to thedestination (step 2724). The charging system 2440 may negotiate and/orauthorize a charge time for the vehicle 100 when in the alternatecharging system zone (step 2728).

In any event, the vehicle 100 may be authorized for charging during atime the vehicle 100 is in a selected charging system zone (step 2720).The method 2700 may continue by proceeding to step 2616 of FIG. 26.

Any of the steps, functions, and operations discussed herein can beperformed continuously and automatically.

The exemplary systems and methods of this disclosure have been describedin relation to vehicle systems and electric vehicles. However, to avoidunnecessarily obscuring the present disclosure, the precedingdescription omits a number of known structures and devices. Thisomission is not to be construed as a limitation of the scope of theclaimed disclosure. Specific details are set forth to provide anunderstanding of the present disclosure. It should, however, beappreciated that the present disclosure may be practiced in a variety ofways beyond the specific detail set forth herein.

Furthermore, while the exemplary embodiments illustrated herein show thevarious components of the system collocated, certain components of thesystem can be located remotely, at distant portions of a distributednetwork, such as a LAN and/or the Internet, or within a dedicatedsystem. Thus, it should be appreciated, that the components of thesystem can be combined into one or more devices, such as a server,communication device, or collocated on a particular node of adistributed network, such as an analog and/or digital telecommunicationsnetwork, a packet-switched network, or a circuit-switched network. Itwill be appreciated from the preceding description, and for reasons ofcomputational efficiency, that the components of the system can bearranged at any location within a distributed network of componentswithout affecting the operation of the system.

Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the various links connectingthe elements can be wired or wireless links, or any combination thereof,or any other known or later developed element(s) that is capable ofsupplying and/or communicating data to and from the connected elements.These wired or wireless links can also be secure links and may becapable of communicating encrypted information. Transmission media usedas links, for example, can be any suitable carrier for electricalsignals, including coaxial cables, copper wire, and fiber optics, andmay take the form of acoustic or light waves, such as those generatedduring radio-wave and infra-red data communications.

While the flowcharts have been discussed and illustrated in relation toa particular sequence of events, it should be appreciated that changes,additions, and omissions to this sequence can occur without materiallyaffecting the operation of the disclosed embodiments, configuration, andaspects.

A number of variations and modifications of the disclosure can be used.It would be possible to provide for some features of the disclosurewithout providing others.

In yet another embodiment, the systems and methods of this disclosurecan be implemented in conjunction with a special purpose computer, aprogrammed microprocessor or microcontroller and peripheral integratedcircuit element(s), an ASIC or other integrated circuit, a digitalsignal processor, a hard-wired electronic or logic circuit such asdiscrete element circuit, a programmable logic device or gate array suchas PLD, PLA, FPGA, PAL, special purpose computer, any comparable means,or the like. In general, any device(s) or means capable of implementingthe methodology illustrated herein can be used to implement the variousaspects of this disclosure. Exemplary hardware that can be used for thepresent disclosure includes computers, handheld devices, telephones(e.g., cellular, Internet enabled, digital, analog, hybrids, andothers), and other hardware known in the art. Some of these devicesinclude processors (e.g., a single or multiple microprocessors), memory,nonvolatile storage, input devices, and output devices. Furthermore,alternative software implementations including, but not limited to,distributed processing or component/object distributed processing,parallel processing, or virtual machine processing can also beconstructed to implement the methods described herein.

In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be readilyimplemented in conjunction with software using object or object-orientedsoftware development environments that provide portable source code thatcan be used on a variety of computer or workstation platforms.Alternatively, the disclosed system may be implemented partially orfully in hardware using standard logic circuits or VLSI design. Whethersoftware or hardware is used to implement the systems in accordance withthis disclosure is dependent on the speed and/or efficiency requirementsof the system, the particular function, and the particular software orhardware systems or microprocessor or microcomputer systems beingutilized.

In yet another embodiment, the disclosed methods may be partiallyimplemented in software that can be stored on a storage medium, executedon programmed general-purpose computer with the cooperation of acontroller and memory, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, orthe like. In these instances, the systems and methods of this disclosurecan be implemented as a program embedded on a personal computer such asan applet, JAVA® or CGI script, as a resource residing on a server orcomputer workstation, as a routine embedded in a dedicated measurementsystem, system component, or the like. The system can also beimplemented by physically incorporating the system and/or method into asoftware and/or hardware system.

Although the present disclosure describes components and functionsimplemented in the embodiments with reference to particular standardsand protocols, the disclosure is not limited to such standards andprotocols. Other similar standards and protocols not mentioned hereinare in existence and are considered to be included in the presentdisclosure. Moreover, the standards and protocols mentioned herein andother similar standards and protocols not mentioned herein areperiodically superseded by faster or more effective equivalents havingessentially the same functions. Such replacement standards and protocolshaving the same functions are considered equivalents included in thepresent disclosure.

The present disclosure, in various embodiments, configurations, andaspects, includes components, methods, processes, systems and/orapparatus substantially as depicted and described herein, includingvarious embodiments, subcombinations, and subsets thereof. Those ofskill in the art will understand how to make and use the systems andmethods disclosed herein after understanding the present disclosure. Thepresent disclosure, in various embodiments, configurations, and aspects,includes providing devices and processes in the absence of items notdepicted and/or described herein or in various embodiments,configurations, or aspects hereof, including in the absence of suchitems as may have been used in previous devices or processes, e.g., forimproving performance, achieving ease, and/or reducing cost ofimplementation.

The foregoing discussion of the disclosure has been presented forpurposes of illustration and description. The foregoing is not intendedto limit the disclosure to the form or forms disclosed herein. In theforegoing Detailed Description for example, various features of thedisclosure are grouped together in one or more embodiments,configurations, or aspects for the purpose of streamlining thedisclosure. The features of the embodiments, configurations, or aspectsof the disclosure may be combined in alternate embodiments,configurations, or aspects other than those discussed above. This methodof disclosure is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention thatthe claimed disclosure requires more features than are expressly recitedin each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventiveaspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosedembodiment, configuration, or aspect. Thus, the following claims arehereby incorporated into this Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separate preferred embodiment of thedisclosure.

Moreover, though the description of the disclosure has includeddescription of one or more embodiments, configurations, or aspects andcertain variations and modifications, other variations, combinations,and modifications are within the scope of the disclosure, e.g., as maybe within the skill and knowledge of those in the art, afterunderstanding the present disclosure. It is intended to obtain rights,which include alternative embodiments, configurations, or aspects to theextent permitted, including alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalentstructures, functions, ranges, or steps to those claimed, whether or notsuch alternate, interchangeable and/or equivalent structures, functions,ranges, or steps are disclosed herein, and without intending to publiclydedicate any patentable subject matter.

Embodiments include a server, comprising: a processor; and acomputer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereonthat, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive acharging request for a vehicle; determine a power source that isavailable to provide charging power to the vehicle based on the chargingrequest; send a power source message to the vehicle, wherein the powersource message includes information describing charging capabilities ofthe determined power source; receive an acceptance message from thevehicle, the acceptance message authorizing a power transfer from thedetermined power source to the vehicle; and receive a transaction reportfrom at least one of the vehicle or the power source, wherein the reportincludes details corresponding to the power transfer.

Aspects of the above server include wherein prior to determining thepower source that is available, the processor is further caused toreceive an availability signal from one or more power sources inproximity to a position of the vehicle along a route. Aspects of theabove server include, wherein the route is a planned route stored in anavigation system associated with the vehicle. Aspects of the aboveserver include wherein the charging request includes a firstgeographical location of the vehicle at a first point in time, andwherein the position of the vehicle along the route is a differentsecond geographical location of the vehicle at a second point in timeafter the first point in time. Aspects of the above server includewherein the charging request includes at least one of a state of chargeof the vehicle, a required charge characteristic associated with thevehicle, or a requested time to charge the vehicle. Aspects of the aboveserver include wherein prior to sending the power source message to thevehicle, the processor is further caused to receive an estimatedcharging cost from the determined power source corresponding to anestimated cost for charging the vehicle based on the charging request.Aspects of the above server include wherein the power source message isconfigured for display to graphical user interface associated with thevehicle. Aspects of the above server include wherein the power sourcemessage is configured to display a list of each power source on agraphical user interface map along with a relative distance from eachpower source to the vehicle, and wherein each power source displayedincludes details about the power source. Aspects of the above serverwherein prior to receiving the acceptance message the processor isfurther caused to: receive, from the vehicle, a selection of one powersource from the list of each power source displayed on the graphicaluser interface map. Aspects of the above server wherein the transactionreport includes an amount of charge provided in the power transfer fromthe power source to the vehicle, a time of charge associated with thepower transfer, a cost associated with the power transfer, anidentification of the power source providing the power transfer, and anidentification of the vehicle.

Embodiments include a method, comprising: receiving, via a processor, acharging request for a vehicle; determining, via the processor, a powersource that is available to provide charging power to the vehicle basedon the charging request; sending, via the processor, a power sourcemessage to the vehicle, wherein the power source message includesinformation describing charging capabilities of the determined powersource; receiving, via the processor, an acceptance message from thevehicle, the acceptance message authorizing a power transfer from thedetermined power source to the vehicle; and receiving, via theprocessor, a transaction report from at least one of the vehicle or thepower source, wherein the report includes details corresponding to thepower transfer.

Aspects of the above method include wherein prior to determining thepower source that is available, the method further comprises: receivingan availability signal from one or more power sources in proximity to aposition of the vehicle along a route. Aspects of the above methodinclude wherein the route is a planned route stored in a navigationsystem associated with the vehicle. Aspects of the above method includewherein the charging request includes a first geographical location ofthe vehicle at a first point in time, and wherein the position of thevehicle along the route is a different second geographical location ofthe vehicle at a second point in time after the first point in time.Aspects of the above method include wherein the charging requestincludes at least one of a state of charge of the vehicle, a requiredcharge characteristic associated with the vehicle, or a requested timeto charge the vehicle. Aspects of the above method include wherein priorto sending the power source message to the vehicle, the method furthercomprises: receiving an estimated charging cost from the determinedpower source corresponding to an estimated cost for charging the vehiclebased on the charging request. Aspects of the above method includewherein the power source message is configured for display to graphicaluser interface associated with the vehicle, wherein the power sourcemessage is configured to display a list of each power source on agraphical user interface map along with a relative distance from eachpower source to the vehicle, and wherein each power source displayedincludes details about the power source. Aspects of the above methodinclude wherein prior to receiving the acceptance message the methodfurther comprises: receiving, from the vehicle, a selection of one powersource from the list of each power source displayed on the graphicaluser interface map.

Embodiments include an electric vehicle, comprising: a communicationconnectivity device communicating with one or more power sources acrossa communication network; a rechargeable energy storage; a displaydevice; a power tracking server, comprising: a processor; and acomputer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereonthat, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: determinethe vehicle requires a charge; determine at least one power source inthe one or more power sources that is available to provide chargingpower to the vehicle based on the determined charge; present a graphicaluser interface to the display device, the graphical user interfacedisplaying information describing charging capabilities of thedetermined at least one power source; receive a selection of the atleast one power source via the display device, wherein the selectionauthorizes a power transfer from the at least one power source to thevehicle; storing charging energy transferred in the power transfer tothe rechargeable energy storage; and receive a transaction report fromat least one of the vehicle or the at least one power source, whereinthe report includes details corresponding to the power transfer.

Aspects of the above electric vehicle include wherein the processor isfurther caused to: send, via the communication connectivity device, thetransaction report to a tracking data memory remotely located from thevehicle across a wireless communication network.

Embodiments include a method for charging an electric vehicle,comprising: receiving, at a charging system, a charge request messagefrom a vehicle; determining, via a processor of the charging system,charging information contained in the charge request message, whereinthe charging information includes charging requirements for charging thevehicle; determining, via the processor of the charging system, toprovide electrical charge to the vehicle via an electricalinterconnection between the vehicle and the charging system inaccordance with the charging requirements; and providing electricalcharge to a power storage system of the vehicle via the charging system.

Aspects of the above method include wherein the charge request messageincludes a header portion and a payload portion and wherein the charginginformation is included in the payload portion. Aspects of the abovemethod include wherein the electrical charge is provided while thevehicle is moving. Aspects of the above method include wherein thecharging information includes orientation information identifying arequired orientation of the vehicle relative to the charging system whenreceiving the electrical charge while the vehicle is moving. Aspects ofthe above method include wherein the charging information includesalignment control information identifying a vehicle control protocol formaintaining the required orientation of the vehicle relative to thecharging system when receiving the electrical charge while the vehicleis moving. Aspects of the above method further comprise: controlling,via the processor of the charging system, a position of the vehicle on aroadway while receiving the electrical charge and based on informationin the vehicle control protocol. Aspects of the above method furthercomprise: receiving, via the processor of the charging system, anend-of-charge message including a time when the power storage system ofthe vehicle is full. Aspects of the above method include, wherein thecharging information includes charging location information identifyinga location on a portion of the vehicle for receiving the electricalcharge from the charging system.

Embodiments include a charging system server, comprising: a processor;and a computer-readable storage medium having instructions storedthereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:receive, at the charging system server, a charge request message from avehicle; determine charging information contained in the charge requestmessage, wherein the charging information includes charging requirementsfor charging the vehicle; and determine to provide electrical charge tothe vehicle via an electrical interconnection between the vehicle andthe charging system in accordance with the charging requirements andwhile the vehicle is moving.

Aspects of the above charging system server include wherein the chargerequest message includes a header portion and a payload portion andwherein the charging information is included in the payload portion.Aspects of the above charging system server include wherein the charginginformation includes orientation information identifying a requiredorientation of the vehicle relative to the charging system whenreceiving the electrical charge while the vehicle is moving. Aspects ofthe above charging system server include wherein the charginginformation includes alignment control information identifying a vehiclecontrol protocol for maintaining the required orientation of the vehiclerelative to the charging system when receiving the electrical chargewhile the vehicle is moving. Aspects of the above charging system serverinclude wherein the processor is further caused to control a position ofthe vehicle on a roadway while receiving the electrical charge and basedon information in the vehicle control protocol. Aspects of the abovecharging system server include wherein the processor is further causedto receive an end-of-charge message including a time when a powerstorage system of the vehicle is full or nearing full charge. Aspects ofthe above charging system server include wherein the charginginformation includes charging location information identifying alocation on a portion of the vehicle for receiving the electrical chargefrom the charging system.

Embodiments include a charging system, comprising: a charging systemserver, comprising: a processor; and a computer-readable storage mediumhaving instructions stored thereon that, when executed by the processor,cause the processor to: receive, at the charging system server, a chargerequest message from a vehicle; determine charging information containedin the charge request message, wherein the charging information includescharging requirements for charging the vehicle; and determine to provideelectrical charge to the vehicle via an electrical interconnectionbetween the vehicle and the charging system in accordance with thecharging requirements and while the vehicle is moving; and a chargingdevice, wherein the charging device provides the electrical charge to apower storage system of the vehicle via the electrical interconnection.

Aspects of the above charging system include wherein the charge requestmessage includes a header portion and a payload portion and wherein thecharging information is included in the payload portion. Aspects of theabove charging system include wherein the charging information includesorientation information identifying a required orientation of thevehicle relative to the charging system when receiving the electricalcharge while the vehicle is moving. Aspects of the above charging systeminclude wherein the charging information includes alignment controlinformation identifying a vehicle control protocol for maintaining therequired orientation of the vehicle relative to the charging system whenreceiving the electrical charge while the vehicle is moving, and whereinthe processor is further caused to control a position of the vehicle ona roadway while receiving the electrical charge based on information inthe vehicle control protocol. Aspects of the above charging systeminclude wherein the processor is further caused to receive anend-of-charge message including a time when a power storage system ofthe vehicle is full or nearing full charge, and wherein the chargingdevice ceases providing the electrical charge to the power storagesystem of the vehicle via the electrical interconnection when the powerstorage system of the vehicle is full.

The phrases “at least one,” “one or more,” “or,” and “and/or” areopen-ended expressions that are both conjunctive and disjunctive inoperation. For example, each of the expressions “at least one of A, Band C,” “at least one of A, B, or C,” “one or more of A, B, and C,” “oneor more of A, B, or C,” “A, B, and/or C,” and “A, B, or C” means Aalone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and Ctogether, or A, B and C together.

The term “a” or “an” entity refers to one or more of that entity. Assuch, the terms “a” (or “an”), “one or more,” and “at least one” can beused interchangeably herein. It is also to be noted that the terms“comprising,” “including,” and “having” can be used interchangeably.

The term “automatic” and variations thereof, as used herein, refers toany process or operation, which is typically continuous orsemi-continuous, done without material human input when the process oroperation is performed. However, a process or operation can beautomatic, even though performance of the process or operation usesmaterial or immaterial human input, if the input is received beforeperformance of the process or operation. Human input is deemed to bematerial if such input influences how the process or operation will beperformed. Human input that consents to the performance of the processor operation is not deemed to be “material.”

Aspects of the present disclosure may take the form of an embodimentthat is entirely hardware, an embodiment that is entirely software(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module,” or “system.”Any combination of one or more computer-readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable signalmedium or a computer-readable storage medium.

A computer-readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limitedto, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, orsemiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combinationof the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of thecomputer-readable storage medium would include the following: anelectrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computerdiskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory(ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flashmemory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory(CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or anysuitable combination of the foregoing. In the context of this document,a computer-readable storage medium may be any tangible medium that cancontain or store a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

A computer-readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer-readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer-readable signal medium may be any computer-readable medium thatis not a computer-readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device. Program codeembodied on a computer-readable medium may be transmitted using anyappropriate medium, including, but not limited to, wireless, wireline,optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination of theforegoing.

The terms “determine,” “calculate,” “compute,” and variations thereof,as used herein, are used interchangeably and include any type ofmethodology, process, mathematical operation or technique.

The term “electric vehicle” (EV), also referred to herein as an electricdrive vehicle, may use one or more electric motors or traction motorsfor propulsion. An electric vehicle may be powered through a collectorsystem by electricity from off-vehicle sources, or may be self-containedwith a battery or generator to convert fuel to electricity. An electricvehicle generally includes a rechargeable electricity storage system(RESS) (also called Full Electric Vehicles (FEV)). Power storage methodsmay include: chemical energy stored on the vehicle in on-board batteries(e.g., battery electric vehicle or BEV), on board kinetic energy storage(e.g., flywheels), and/or static energy (e.g., by on-board double-layercapacitors). Batteries, electric double-layer capacitors, and flywheelenergy storage may be forms of rechargeable on-board electrical storage.

The term “hybrid electric vehicle” refers to a vehicle that may combinea conventional (usually fossil fuel-powered) powertrain with some formof electric propulsion. Most hybrid electric vehicles combine aconventional internal combustion engine (ICE) propulsion system with anelectric propulsion system (hybrid vehicle drivetrain). In parallelhybrids, the ICE and the electric motor are both connected to themechanical transmission and can simultaneously transmit power to drivethe wheels, usually through a conventional transmission. In serieshybrids, only the electric motor drives the drivetrain, and a smallerICE works as a generator to power the electric motor or to recharge thebatteries. Power-split hybrids combine series and parallelcharacteristics. A full hybrid, sometimes also called a strong hybrid,is a vehicle that can run on just the engine, just the batteries, or acombination of both. A mid hybrid is a vehicle that cannot be drivensolely on its electric motor, because the electric motor does not haveenough power to propel the vehicle on its own.

The term “rechargeable electric vehicle” or “REV” refers to a vehiclewith on board rechargeable energy storage, including electric vehiclesand hybrid electric vehicles.

What is claimed is:
 1. A server, comprising: a processor; and acomputer-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereonthat, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to: receive acharging request for a vehicle; determine a power source that isavailable to provide charging power to the vehicle based on the chargingrequest; send a power source message to the vehicle, wherein the powersource message includes information describing charging capabilities ofthe determined power source; receive an acceptance message from thevehicle, the acceptance message authorizing a power transfer from thedetermined power source to the vehicle; and receive a transaction reportfrom at least one of the vehicle or the power source, wherein the reportincludes details corresponding to the power transfer.
 2. The server ofclaim 1, wherein prior to determining the power source that isavailable, the processor is further caused to receive an availabilitysignal from one or more power sources in proximity to a position of thevehicle along a route.
 3. The server of claim 2, wherein the route is aplanned route stored in a navigation system associated with the vehicle.4. The server of claim 3, wherein the charging request includes a firstgeographical location of the vehicle at a first point in time, andwherein the position of the vehicle along the route is a differentsecond geographical location of the vehicle at a second point in timeafter the first point in time.
 5. The server of claim 1, wherein thecharging request includes at least one of a state of charge of thevehicle, a required charge characteristic associated with the vehicle,or a requested time to charge the vehicle.
 6. The server of claim 5,wherein prior to sending the power source message to the vehicle, theprocessor is further caused to receive an estimated charging cost fromthe determined power source corresponding to an estimated cost forcharging the vehicle based on the charging request.
 7. The server ofclaim 6, wherein the power source message is configured for display tographical user interface associated with the vehicle.
 8. The server ofclaim 7, wherein the power source message is configured to display alist of each power source on a graphical user interface map along with arelative distance from each power source to the vehicle, and whereineach power source displayed includes details about the power source. 9.The server of claim 8, wherein prior to receiving the acceptance messagethe processor is further caused to: receive, from the vehicle, aselection of one power source from the list of each power sourcedisplayed on the graphical user interface map.
 10. The server of claim1, wherein the transaction report includes an amount of charge providedin the power transfer from the power source to the vehicle, a time ofcharge associated with the power transfer, a cost associated with thepower transfer, an identification of the power source providing thepower transfer, and an identification of the vehicle.
 11. A method,comprising: receiving, via a processor, a charging request for avehicle; determining, via the processor, a power source that isavailable to provide charging power to the vehicle based on the chargingrequest; sending, via the processor, a power source message to thevehicle, wherein the power source message includes informationdescribing charging capabilities of the determined power source;receiving, via the processor, an acceptance message from the vehicle,the acceptance message authorizing a power transfer from the determinedpower source to the vehicle; and receiving, via the processor, atransaction report from at least one of the vehicle or the power source,wherein the report includes details corresponding to the power transfer.12. The method of claim 11, wherein prior to determining the powersource that is available, the method further comprises: receiving anavailability signal from one or more power sources in proximity to aposition of the vehicle along a route.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the route is a planned route stored in a navigation systemassociated with the vehicle.
 14. The method of claim 13, wherein thecharging request includes a first geographical location of the vehicleat a first point in time, and wherein the position of the vehicle alongthe route is a different second geographical location of the vehicle ata second point in time after the first point in time.
 15. The method ofclaim 11, wherein the charging request includes at least one of a stateof charge of the vehicle, a required charge characteristic associatedwith the vehicle, or a requested time to charge the vehicle.
 16. Themethod of claim 15, wherein prior to sending the power source message tothe vehicle, the method further comprises: receiving an estimatedcharging cost from the determined power source corresponding to anestimated cost for charging the vehicle based on the charging request.17. The method of claim 16, wherein the power source message isconfigured for display to graphical user interface associated with thevehicle, wherein the power source message is configured to display alist of each power source on a graphical user interface map along with arelative distance from each power source to the vehicle, and whereineach power source displayed includes details about the power source. 18.The method of claim 17, wherein prior to receiving the acceptancemessage the method further comprises: receiving, from the vehicle, aselection of one power source from the list of each power sourcedisplayed on the graphical user interface map.
 19. An electric vehicle,comprising: a communication connectivity device communicating with oneor more power sources across a communication network; a rechargeableenergy storage; a display device; a power tracking server, comprising: aprocessor; and a computer-readable storage medium having instructionsstored thereon that, when executed by the processor, cause the processorto: determine the vehicle requires a charge; determine at least onepower source in the one or more power sources that is available toprovide charging power to the vehicle based on the determined charge;present a graphical user interface to the display device, the graphicaluser interface displaying information describing charging capabilitiesof the determined at least one power source; receive a selection of theat least one power source via the display device, wherein the selectionauthorizes a power transfer from the at least one power source to thevehicle; storing charging energy transferred in the power transfer tothe rechargeable energy storage; and receive a transaction report fromat least one of the vehicle or the at least one power source, whereinthe report includes details corresponding to the power transfer.
 20. Theelectric vehicle of claim 19, wherein the processor is further causedto: send, via the communication connectivity device, the transactionreport to a tracking data memory remotely located from the vehicleacross a wireless communication network.